“YOU’VE got me here for murder, you must be f***ing mental.”

These were the words an 76-year-old man used towards police officers as part of a tirade of foul-mouthed insults he said to police after he called them to his home over his dementia-suffering wife’s death.

Edward Small, of Raymond Drive, West Bowling, is on trial for murdering his 73-year-old wife Sheila Small on December 18, 2018, which he denies.

He called police to his home in the early hours to report his wife’s death.

Body camera footage of PC Sam Lalor was shown to the jury in Bradford Crown Court from when he and a colleague attended the house.

In the video, Small told police he and his wife had “had an argument” when asked what had happened.

Small is then moved to the bathroom, where he becomes increasingly irate and has to be handcuffed.

PC Lalor tells him to sit down on the toilet at one point, to which Small responded: “I am sat down you c**t.”

When told he was being arrested for the murder of his wife, Small said: “You have got to be f**king joking.

“After 57 years I go and murder her? You tw*t.”

He again denied murdering his wife, and after being taken to the police station to be processed, said: “You got me here for murder you must be f**king mental.”

Bradford Crown Court also heard from forensic scientist Dr Karel Klaentschi, who attended the scene to investigate blood spatter and stains at the house.

He said all of the blood stains he found in the house belonged to Sheila Small.

Blood patterns on clothing and further investigations suggested there had been an attempt to clean up blood in the couple’s bathroom, Dr Klaentschi told the jury.

He said: “Blood down the front of her top suggested she was upright for a time while wearing the top.

“This blood was diluted with water, which suggests she had been washed.

“There was noticeably little blood around her, and when investigated further I was getting positive reactions for blood that was not visible but was there on her and in the room.

“There were also traces of blood on the floor boards. This all suggested to me the area around her had been cleaned.

“The rug next to the bed was still wet, and there was a blood stained towel and bucket.”

Blood on the duvet could have been explained by a head wet with blood being “repeatedly struck against the side of the bed”, Dr Klaentschi added.

He also found blood spots on a pillow and on the bedroom door handles.

In the kitchen, he found a blood stain where he said Mrs Small could have hit her head against the wall, and damage to the wall next to the stain.

He said: “There was a scuff to the wallpaper, which suggested it was recent.

“Because there were so close together, they could have been linked.

“My interpretation is if Mrs Small had been stood there and something had hit the wall or been thrown at her, she then went to the floor.”

Blood was also found on a box of Surf washing powder, which suggested there had been a blow being struck causing blood to go across the box, he said.

The trial continues.