A JURY has retired to consider its verdict in the case of an East Lancashire man appealing against a 12-year prison sentence for killing his wife and dumping her body in a French lake.

Evelyn Lund went missing from the farmhouse the couple shared in the remote village of Rayssac, south-west France, in December 1999.

Her husband, Robert, originally of Darwen, was arrested and convicted of an offence akin to manslaughter by a court in Albi, in the Tarn area, in 2007.

But the 57-year-old subsequently launched an appeal, insisting he played no part in his wife's 'tragic death'.

Now, following a retrial at the Cour d'Assises de la Haute-Garonne, in Toulouse, he will find out whether he is to be acquitted.

If found guilty, he could face a longer prison sentence than the 12 years he was handed in 2007.

During the five-day trial, jurors heard how the couple emigrated to France to start a new life together in 1997. But their relationship became increasingly strained, with Mrs Lund, 52, struggling to adjust to her new life and drinking heavily, the court was told.

Prosecutors say their rows culminated in Mrs Lund's death on the night of December 29 1999. Her body was not discovered until nearly two years later, on the the back seat of her red Toyota in Lake Bancalie, about 15 miles from Rayssac.

Police questioned Lund shortly after the discovery but he was not arrested until November 2004.

Lund has always protested his innocence. He maintains his wife's death was an accident and told the court she must have driven into the lake after losing her way, following a storm. He claims she had been drinking.