The GP wife of a former Olympian feared she was “going to end up dead” if she did not leave their marriage, a jury has heard.
Curtis Robb, 54, is alleged to have repeatedly or continuously engaged in controlling and coercive behaviour towards Sarah Robb between December 2015 and August 2023.
Robb, who is now a surgeon, competed for Great Britain in the 800 metres at the 1992 and 1996 Games.
He is said to have assaulted and threatened his wife, called her names and subjected her to “constant criticism”.
Opening the case on Monday at Chester Crown Court, prosecutor Paulinus Barnes told jurors: “Sarah Robb had been in a relationship with this defendant for more than 22 years. They had three children. They were doctors.
“On the surface they seemed like a happy and successful couple, but there was a dark side to their relationship.
“The prosecution say that over many, many years, Curtis Robb was not only cruel to his wife, he was also physically violent.
“Matters came to a head during a family holiday in Easter 2023 in the Lake District, and in October of that year Sarah Robb finally told the police what had been happening to her.”
Following an argument in their room, the court heard, Ms Robb said the defendant held a pillow over her face in an “unprovoked attack”.
The prosecutor said: “She does not know how long he held it there but she remembers that she was starting to feel like she couldn’t breathe.
“After that incident she said the penny dropped and she later told police ‘it was rock bottom because I knew then I had to leave, if I didn’t leave I was going to end up dead’.”
Robb, of Northwich, Cheshire, denies controlling and coercive behaviour.
He has also pleaded not guilty to suffocation.
Mr Barnes said Ms Robb described to police a history of being assaulted by the orthopaedic surgeon throughout their marriage.
She detailed two incidents in which she said she was struck by Robb during her pregnancy with their third child – one in which he “thumped her” on the arm which left bruising and another in which he punched her on the arm and in her side while he was driving.
Mr Barnes said: “She described the sort of things he would say to her through the marriage such as calling her ‘a manipulative bitch’ and ‘neurotic’.
“He said she could not cope as a mother and belittled her professional role as a GP and said she could cope in that job either.
“Over the years, she says, she learned not to react, to say nothing, to not show any emotions because she knew the consequences if she did.
“During previous incidents when she said he had been violent to her he had managed to persuade her to believe that these had been her fault, that she had somehow brought it upon herself, that she deserved it and no-one would ever believe her.”
The prosecutor said Robb was also interviewed by the police and denied he had ever been controlling or coercive towards her.
He said: “He said she was the controlling one.
“He accepted that during the Easter holiday in 2023 there had been an argument. He said he had thrown a pillow at Sarah but denied putting it over her face and suffocating her.”
The trial continues on Tuesday.
