A former Olympic athlete turned orthopaedic surgeon allegedly told his wife she “deserved” the suffocation he was inflicting on her with a pillow, a jury at Chester Crown Court has heard.
Curtis Robb, 54, is accused of carrying out the attack in April 2023 during a family holiday in the Lake District. The prosecution alleges that after a row, Robb walked into the bedroom where his wife, Sarah Robb, was lying down and used an electric toothbrush to wake her. Ms Robb told police that when she complained, her husband gave her “that face”, performed several “karate kicks”, then pulled the pillow from under her head and held it over her face.
“I can’t remember for how long. I started to feel I couldn’t breathe,” she told detectives in an interview played to the court. She said she froze and did not retaliate. After throwing the pillow onto the bed, Robb allegedly swept everything from the bedside table – her phone, book, notebook and eye mask – against her face.
Ms Robb also alleged that her husband then punched her “four or five times” using his “full-on strength”. It was at this point, the court heard, that Robb said to her: “You deserve this, you brought it upon yourself, you never know when to leave it.”
The incident, which Ms Robb described as a “completely unprovoked, brutal attack”, gave her what she called “clarity”. She told police she realised she wanted to leave the marriage. Months later she went to the authorities, telling them she feared she was “going to end up dead” if she stayed.
Alleged pattern of controlling and coercive behaviour
The suffocation allegation forms part of a wider case against Robb, who is also charged with controlling and coercive behaviour against his wife between December 2015 and August 2023. The offence, under Section 76 of the Serious Crime Act 2015, criminalises a repeated or continuous pattern of abuse designed to harm, exploit or dominate an individual within an intimate or family relationship. Such behaviour must have a serious effect on the victim, causing them to fear violence or significantly impacting their daily life. The maximum penalty is five years’ imprisonment, an unlimited fine, or community-based penalties. In 2023 the legal definition was amended to include post-separation abuse, meaning charges can be brought even if the couple no longer live together.
Prosecutor Paulinus Barnes said that to outsiders the couple appeared “happy and successful”, but according to the prosecution Robb had a “dark side” and was physically violent and cruel to his wife.
In her police interview, Ms Robb described the controlling behaviour she said she endured over many years. She alleged that Robb repeatedly told her she was “mentally unstable”, “autistic” and “needed to see a psychiatrist”. She said she used to believe him but no longer did. “I would always say, ‘You want a doormat as a wife and I am not a doormat,’ but looking back, I probably was.”
She also recounted specific incidents of violence. During her pregnancy with their third child, she claims Robb “thumped her” on the arm, leaving bruising, and punched her on the arm and side while she was driving.
Robb, who is an orthopaedic surgeon and has worked at Warrington Hospital and Spire Cheshire Hospital, was a three-time British 800 metres champion and competed for Great Britain at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics – where he finished sixth in the final – and the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, where he reached the semi-finals. His personal best of 1:44.92 was set in 1993. The couple, both doctors, had been together for more than 22 years and have three children.
When interviewed by police, Robb denied all charges. He told officers that his wife was the controlling one, not him. He admitted that there had been an argument during the Easter holiday in 2023 and that he had thrown a pillow, but he insisted he did not place it over her face and did not suffocate her.
Robb, of Northwich, Cheshire, has pleaded not guilty to both intentional suffocation and controlling and coercive behaviour. The trial continues.
