An unemployed hotel chef has denied murdering his wife and dumping her decomposing body in a wheelie bin in Cobham.

But Peter Wallner, 33, admitted unlawfully preventing her legal burial by keeping her dead body hidden for several years in a freezer in their shed in Hamilton Avenue.

At the Old Bailey today the German chef, who worked at Woodlands Park Hotel, was accused of killing South African Melanie Wallner between Tuesday, August 1, 2006 and June 6, 2009.

Speaking only to enter his pleas, Mr Wallner stood in the dock, wearing glasses, jeans and a blue striped short-sleeved shirt.

His trial is due to start in November.