DOUBT has been cast on claims that a man accused of murdering his wife at their Pontypool home was suffering from depression at the time.

David Maggs is currently on trial at Cardiff Crown Court, where he is accused of murdering his wife Linda, 74, at their Pontypool home in Feburary last year.

The 71-year-old defendant denies her murder but has admitted killing her and has pleaded guilty to manslaughter by grounds of diminished responsibility, specifically that he was suffering from depression at the time.

Today (Thursday) psychiatrist Thomas Wynne, who assessed Mr Maggs and investigated his medical history, as well as viewed footage of the defendant's arrest and police interviews, and last June conducted a face-to-face interview with him at HMP Cardiff, appeared before the court.

Sharing with the court the conclusions of his investigation, Dr Wynne said Mr Maggs had "minimal mental health history", and that he considered another doctor's diagnosis of moderate depression, for which he had been prescribed an anti-depressant in early 2020, to be "largely based" on Mr Maggs "self-reporting after the material event".

He said he was "not convinced" the defendant was suffering from a moderate depressive illness at the time of the killing, because Mr Maggs' GP had recently reported the defendant "feeling better" and the defendant's sister had described him as "buoyant" the night before Mrs Maggs died.

Dr Wynne said there was evidence David Maggs had been suffering depression a year prior to the killing, but medical records and use of international metrics for diagnosing mental disorders suggested "the closest" the defendant came to moderate depression was in January 2020.

Mrs Maggs was killed in February 2021.

Sarah Jones QC, defending, said there had been several instances in the past when doctors referred to Mr Maggs being unwell. On one occasion, a doctor described the defendant - who was being treated for epilepsy - as having symptoms "more likely to be connected with stress, anxiety of his divorce, and worry at work".

Ms Jones said: "Reading between the lines [these appear to be] symptoms perhaps we'd term now as reactive depression."

Dr Wynne said it would be "very difficult" to make a mental health diagnosis based on that information.

But after Mr Maggs suffered a heart attack in 2019, he was sent for counselling as part of a cardiac rehabilitation programme.

She told the court "people seem to be generally concerned about [David Maggs'] mood" at that time.

"This is in 2019 - I don't dispute he suffered depressive illness in his life," the witness replied.

Later on, David Maggs asked his GP to increase his dosage of anti-depressants, which Dr Wynne said “suggests he could be struggling with his mood".

But when Mr Maggs later told his GP he "didn't want to take the tablets", as Ms Jones described it, Dr Wynne said the defendant had "reported he's feeling OK".

The trial before Judge Michael Fitton QC continues.