A PENSIONER charged with killing his wife asked a medic who treated her if he would go to jail, a court heard today.

Neil Crilley was said to have made the comment in an ambulance as Maureen Crilley was being taken to hospital in September 2017.

Jurors also heard a 999 call where the 77-year-old claimed his wife fell weeks ago, but that she "begged" him not to get help.

The evidence was today heard at the High Court in Glasgow.

Mr Crilley denies the culpable homicide of his 67 year-old wife at their home in Whitecrook, West Dunbartonshire.

The allegation spans between July 1 and September 2, 2017.

Amongst the prosecution claims are that he knew she was "immobilised" suffering from injury and infection.

He is said not to have got “appropriate, timely and adequate” medical help causing “unnecessary suffering” to his wife of 38 years.

The trial heard how Mr Crilley told the 999 operator that Maureen fell on the floor eight or nine weeks ago.

He also said: “She is conscious just now. Her back is sore as she has been lying on the floor for eight or nine weeks.

“She begged me not to phone but she is in terrible need.

“She was slurring her words this morning and it's making me really worried - it could be a mini you know what.

“She is terrified of needles and doesn't want to go to hospital.”

Mr Crilley also mentioned that his wife had not eaten or had a drink for six days and was gasping for air.

Jurors heard earlier how a doctor who checked Mrs Crilley described it as one of the worst cases she had seen in 32 years.

Mrs Crilley was eventually taken in one ambulance while her husband went in another.

It was there he chatted to an ambulance technician.

The witness recalled: “He told me his wife fell several weeks ago, that she had a fear of hospitals and didn't want to go.

“He then said: 'Am I going to jail for this?'

“The woman was lying naked on the floor with sores and a bad leg. I'd never seen anything like this before.”

The doctor who treated Mrs Crilley at the city's Queen Elizabeth University Hospital also gave evidence today.

Dr Fraser Denny said: “If medical treatment was found after she hurt her leg, then the chances of survival were certain.

“She was left on the floor and that's what led to her demise.”

Dr Denny told jurors that Mrs Crilley arrived at the hospital with two high grade sores on her back.

He added that the pensioner's spine and muscle tissue could be seen through one.

Dr Denny did an X-ray before her death which showed she had a fractured left ankle.

Jurors heard Mrs Crilley attended a hospital almost every year in the run up to her death for blood tests after being diagnosed with osteoporosis and required yearly check-ups.

Doctors acknowledged that Maureen was "needle phobic" but she still did the tests.

One doctor's report said: "The one issue is she is mortified of needles, but she will grit her teeth and go through with this."

The court also heard Maureen fractured her knee cap in 2016, but didn't get treatment until six weeks later.

The trial continues on Monday before judge Lord Burns.