A FORMER bank worker accused of murdering his wife in a motorway crash has told a court he regarded her as his “world” after the break-up of his previous marriage.

Ian Walters, 51, is accused of killing Tracy Walters by deliberately steering their pick-up truck off the M1 in Leicestershire at up to 84mph.

Prosecutors allege that Mrs Walters, from Swindon, was killed after a series of rows caused by her husband’s unreasonable sexual demands.

Giving evidence in the fourth week of his trial at Leicester Crown Court, Walters claimed to have had a dramatic and adventurous sex life with his wife amid arguments caused by poor communication between them.

The driving test examiner, of Tregantle Walk, faced questions from defence barrister Christopher Millington QC during his first day in the witness box.

Asked how he felt about his second wife, whom he met in 2011 and married in Cyprus a year later, Walters told jurors: “She was my world, I couldn’t believe that she was interested in me.

“I couldn’t believe the attention that she was showing me. It was just wonderful after a very hard time dealing with my first marriage break-up.”

During his evidence, Walters also described 48-year-old Mrs Walters as a big ray of hope after his divorce.

Walters has not yet been asked questions relating directly to the crash in March last year, which happened as the couple returned with from a make-or-break week away in North Yorkshire.

At the start of his evidence, the former senior credit compliance manager for Barclays confirmed that he has no criminal convictions.

The court also heard Mrs Walters had made an application under ‘Claire’s Law’ to discover if he had a violent past.

The court heard he took voluntary redundancy from the bank in 2003 and took up work as a driving instructor before qualifying as an examiner in 2008.

Wearing a dark suit and blue tie, Walters said he was initially based at a test centre in Chippenham and had then transferred to Swindon, where he met Mrs Walters, who was working as a driving instructor.

Describing how they started dating, Walters told the court: “One of Tracy’s candidates was being tested by myself.

“At the end of test, when all the formalities had been completed, she handed me a business card and said, ‘You might like to ring me'.”

Answering questions from Mr Millington about his driving history, Walters claimed to have twice fallen asleep at the wheel.

He said he believed both incidents, which did not result in injury, had occurred in 2002, shortly before he left Barclays.

Describing how one of the incidents happened between 5am and 6am he said: “I was trying to get to Leeds and Newcastle, for an eight o’clock start.

“I had set cruise control on my car and woke up just before I went over the rumble strip on the side of the motorway.”

Jurors heard that Walters had suffered from problems sleeping since the mid-1980s, which were related to stress and overwork.

The trial was also told that Walters, who regarded his inability to switch off as a constant problem, and he was prescribed sleeping pills in 2013.

Walters, who denies murder, will continue giving evidence tomorrow.