The wife of former Olympic athlete Curtis Robb accused him of being 'evil and not even a human being' during years of alleged abuse, she told a court today.

Sarah Robb, 47, said that the former 800m runner was 'hideous' and had laughed at her when she confronted him over his alleged physical and verbal assaults.

The mother-of-three, a doctor, told the jury at Chester Crown Court: 'I told him that I could be half dead in a hospital corridor before he realised what he had done. 

'I said to him: "You are not a human being, what you have done is evil."

'He laughed. It was hideous.'

Robb, now 54, competed in the 800m for Team GB at the Barcelona and Atlanta Games in the 1990s before qualifying as a surgeon.

He is on trial accused of subjecting his GP wife to years of 'cruel' behaviour. 

Cross-examined by Martine Snowdon, defending, Ms Robb - now known as Sarah Caddy - said she had been 'in fear of my life' when her husband allegedly tried to suffocate her with a pillow during an Easter break in the Lake District in 2023.

'I knew then that my life was absolutely in danger and that this person knew no bounds.'

Ms Snowdon asked her: 'Why did you not leave?'

She replied: 'I asked myself that so many times. 

'His hold over me was so strong. I was desperate but I had no plan about what on earth I could do. 

'I knew I had to leave but I did not know how, with the practicalities of three children all at school.'

Mrs Robb denied that she had lost her temper and lashed out at her husband in domestic arguments.

She rejected the suggestion by Ms Snowdon that she had thrown a glass of water at him and would follow him into his bedroom when he tried to walk away from an argument.

She has claimed that Robb, 54, tried to suffocate her with a pillow during a family Easter break in 2023 at the end of their 16 year marriage.

Ms Snowdon asked her if there were times when she became angry and had lashed out at her husband.

'I cried out from shock and for help,' she replied. 

'I have never lost my temper and never lashed out in frustration or been provocative in arguments.'

She was asked about photographs she has produced to the court which she claims showed injuries as a result of assaults by her husband.

Ms Snowdon said: 'Curtis Robb will say you never had injuries caused by him.'

His wife replied: 'All these incidents happened to me as I have described.

'I remember every single one vividly and the way he made me feel emotionally and how he abused me verbally.'

She was asked why she had deleted some photographs but not others.

Ms Robb told the jury: 'I deleted them because I had to believe that it would not happen again. 

'Each time I sat there looking at the photographs I was thinking that I had to speak up and deal with it or delete them and believe it would not happen again, I wanted to speak up so much but I could not.'

Ms Robb accepted that the couple communicated via messages and agreed there were no messages in which he called her names.

'He did that face to face,' she said. 

'The name calling was always face to face. The threats were face to face.'

A former British champion, Robb's best Olympics result was in Barcelona in 1992, where he finished sixth in the 800m final.

In 1996 he was back competing at the Olympics, but was eliminated in the semi-final, later qualifying as a doctor. 

Robb, of Northwich, Cheshire, denies one charge of controlling and coercive behaviour in a family setting and a second charge of suffocation.

The trial continues.