A COURT heard this morning of the moment a Hampshire mum learned of her husband's affair with a prostitute - months before he killed her after a row.

Kirsi Gifford-Hull, 38, was having lunch with her husband Michael Gifford-Hull when a card with a woman's name and number fell out of his wallet.

Jurors at Winchester Crown Court heard in a statement from Kirsi's sister Eija Koivunen, how after pushing him to tell her what it was, Gifford Hull confessed to having a long-term affair.

The court heard how in a phone-call to Eija in Finland, Kirsi said her husband had been seeing whores for four or five years'.

In a statement given to police in Helsinki Eija said Kirsi had told her it was like my legs had been taken from under me' adding lives have hit rock bottom'.

Jurors were told by prosecutor Michael Bowes QC, how Kirsi had called her mother Leena Pihlajamaki on the day she had made the discovery, crying and asking what she should do.

"I was trying to calm her down' Leena said in a statement to police last summer, shortly after Kirsi was reported missing.

Gifford-Hull, now 43, has admitted killing his wife of 19 years but claims it was an accident.

He denies one charge of murder.

Proceeding