A German chef accused of murdering his wife at their home in Cobham in 2006 has been described as a “serial philanderer” who became so obsessed with one girlfriend that he moved all her possessions into his house while she was on holiday in Australia, the Old Bailey has heard.

Peter Wallner, 35, is accused of murdering his wife Melanie, 30, at the home they shared in Hamilton Avenue, on August 27, 2006, by hitting her across the head three times with a cast iron griddle pan. He admits killing her in the incident, but denies murder.

Her body was found in June last year in wheelie bin outside the house, after Mr Wallner had left the country with his then girlfriend Lilia Fenech.

Mr Wallner, who was born in Bavaria and moved to the UK in 2000, has already pleaded guilty to manslaughter, but denies murder, claiming he killed his wife after an argument got out of hand.

On Wednesday, June 2, during judge Steven Kramer’s summing up, the court heard Mr Wallner had admitted to his wife about having an affair with Ms Fenech, a Maltese co-worker at the Woodlands Park Hotel in Leatherhead, and this had not been his only infidelity.

After killing his wife, the court was told, Mr Wallner ordered a freezer from Argos and hid his wife’s body in it for three years. Meanwhile, he carried on an affair with another co-worker, Emma Harrison, sleeping with her on the bed where his wife had died the previous day.

When Ms Harrison went to Australia in March 2007, Mr Wallner moved all her belongings into his house, telling her mother, with whom she lived, it would be a “surprise”, the court heard.

On her return, when she saw all her belongings in Mr Wallner’s house, Ms Harrison “burst into tears, and they were not tears of happiness”, judge Kramer said.

Judge Kramer also said that although Mr Wallner was not on trial for his infidelities during his five year marriage, they should be taken into account.

Judge Kramer said: “You’re not judging Peter Wallner for being a serial philanderer while married to Melanie Wallner. [But] the relevance of the affairs is they are important scene setting evidence. It helps you judge Peter Wallner and the mindset he was in at the relevant time.”

Judge Kramer also recalled the description Mrs Wallner’s mother Jeanne Oosthuizen had given the court of her daughter earlier in the proceedings.

Mrs Oosthuizen wept in court as the judge told the jury of Mrs Wallner’s “bubbly and loud” personality as a child, which had developed into a “conquer the world attitude” in adulthood.

The jury was sent out to deliberate their verdict on Thursday, June 3, and had not reached a decision as the Surrey Comet went to press.