Peter Wallner hit the local headlines last year when he was traced to Malta as police searched for the murder of his wife Melanie.

It later transpired that Peter Wallner had bludgeoned his wife to death and left her in a freezer for three years before fleeing to Malta with his new wife, Lilia Fenech. He had dumped her body in a wheelie bin to be disposed of by bin men and it was only when the bin was too heavy that it was found to contain the remains of his former wife.

The police were mobilised and a van which Wallner had rented to come to Malta was found in San Gwann. He was subsequently returned to the UK to face trial.

But now, another woman has come forward to tell the tale of how Wallner used and abused women’s emotions, going on rampant affairs and sleeping with women in his wife’s bed, days after she died – all the time hiding behind a web of deceit and fake grief over Melanie’s death. It was heard how, in court, he hit his wife over the head with a frying pan when she had asked him about a text message from another woman.

Rebecca Jackson tells of how Wallner lied to her about his parents having died in Germany. He also told her he had a vasectomy, only for her to fall pregnant a short time later. After their baby was born, he broke off contact and told them not to ever have anything to do with him again.

Wallner conned Rebecca and three other women into believing that Melanie had died of natural causes, presenting himself as a grief-stricken widower to win their sympathy and affection. None of the women had any idea as to the others’ existence.

Wallner was born in a small town on the German-Austrian border. The son of a businessman, he had moved to Britain in his 20s. He had trained as a chef and had two Michelin stars. He worked in Apsleys restaurant at London’s exclusive Lanesborough Hotel – whose head chef is internationally acclaimed Heinz Beck – before joining the Woodlands Park Hotel in Cobham, Surrey, near his three-bedroom semi-detached house. He is alleged to have slept with Emma Harrison, who he was told was separated, a day after he killed his wife, in their matrimonial bed.