MURDERER Derek Symmons this week pleaded with authorities not to be forced to sell the mansion where he beat and strangled his wife.

Symmons, who was jailed for 16 years for murder in December, appeared in court on Wednesday to argue that he would lose money if he was ordered to sell his million-pound Loudwater property.

The former electrical engineer murdered his hairdresser wife, Christine, in their home in Lower Plantation in September 2005 after she discovered he was having an affair.

He then wrapped her in polythene, put her body in the boot of his BMW and drove to France, where he was later arrested by police.

St Albans Crown Court heard on Wednesday that Symmons was struggling to pay a bill for prosecution costs of £63,000.

The 63-year-old has a half share in the house and about £25,000 in the bank, his barrister Alex Heglin told the court.

At the time of his trial last year, he had more than £40,000, but £15,000 has since been spent on preparing a possible appeal.

Symmons' former home in Loudwater had been valued at £850,000 two years ago.

Mr Heglin said if the house had to be sold now it would raise only about £600,000 because of the stigma surrounding it, and pleaded for time to pay.

He said if it could be rented, the whole prosecution costs could be paid off in two years without the need to sell it.

Arguing this would be in the interests of Symmons' two adult children, Claire and Mark, he said: "It does seem unjust that, having lost their mother, they should lose financially as a result of her death."

However the pleas did not move Judge Michael Baker, who said the Continued from Page 1 instalment proposal was "neither realistic nor probable". He ruled £27,000 should be paid within two weeks, and the rest within six months.

He said he expected the money to be raised either through sale of the house or of Symmons' interest in it.

Like all Crown Court defendants, Symmons was given legal aid during the murder trial and he will probably have to pay an even larger sum to cover his defence costs, although this will be decided at a later hearing.

The judge asked for an up-to-date valuation of the Loudwater home, whether the murderer has any financial interest in houses belonging to his two children, and whether they intend to sue him for the loss of their mother.

House prices in Loudwater have risen by up to 20 per cent in the past two years, according to estate agent Robert Myers of Gibbs Gillespie.

Symmons' house in Lower Plantation - a detached, five-bedroom house in a large plot - could now be worth more than £1million.

Mr Myers said that buyers will undoubtedly be put off by the fact that Mrs Symmons was murdered inside the house but added that estate agents would not tell the grisly history of the house, unless asked.

Mr Myers said: "You have to value it as if there was nothing untoward.

"I would say it's not a benefit that a murder has been committed in a house. But the history is irrelevant in my opinion. However, if someone asks you a direct question, you have to answer truthfully if you have that knowledge.

"The bottom line is that you go at market price. You sell it and then hope you get the market price."