WILLIAMS VERDICT: VISITING his wife's graveside in the days leading up to his conviction, Randle Williams kept up the charade of a grieving husband.

From the day Natalie went missing Williams has played the role of a man in torment hiding the real truth that he strangled and drowned the attractive 33-year-old on the banks of the River Avon, before dumping her body in the murky water.

Telling a friend about their "special relationship" as he tended his wife's grave, Williams said: "I've had other relationships with women, but Natalie was on a different level. I couldn't entertain the idea of life with another woman. No-one could match Natalie. She was a one off she was special.

"If you feel it in your heart you'll forgive things that are lust-driven.

"One week I was driving a nice car and was married to Natalie, the next week I was in hell."

Allowed to arrange his wife's funeral while out on bail, Williams said police barred him from burying her with her wedding ring.

He said: "I did everything Natalie would have wanted. But at the funeral, the police wouldn't allow me to talk to the family and told me her diamond ring could not be buried with her.

"I spent my time in jail writing poems about Natalie and to Natalie. It allowed me to control my thoughts and emotions."

Talking of his prison cell suicide plans Williams said he didn't want to give detectives the satisfaction of presuming his guilt.

"My epitaph would have been 'he must have been guilty he topped himself.'"

Williams also spoke of his plans to start a family with Natalie in the £525,000 home at Tufton Barns. "I played in the Winchester barn as a child. Natalie would have loved children there but the owner pulled out the day I was arrested."

Days later the true face of Williams was unveiled as not one of love, but jealousy, greed and murder.