HE allegedly called himself Bruce Overland and promised he would come to her a free man by July 1.
But Toni McHugh knew him as Gerard Baden-Clay - her long-time colleague and lover who wanted to free himself from his wife and his life so they could be together.
What she did not know, until police told her, was that Baden-Clay was also allegedly having affairs with two other women, police have claimed in documents tendered in opposition to his bail application yesterday.
According to those same court documents, Baden-Clay had severe financial problems and the string of mistresses.
Peter Davis, SC, for Baden-Clay, described the Crown case as "weak", saying there had been no cause of death ascertained from the post-mortem examination, no evidence as to where she was killed, what date or time she was killed and no evidence to show he had left his home on the night she disappeared.
Justice David Boddice rejected that, saying the circumstantial case had factors that "if accepted by a jury" would make a strong argument.
He denied Baden-Clay's application for bail, saying the Brookfield father of three remained a flight risk.
The affidavits filed in the Supreme Court reveal much about the Crown's case for murder against the Brookfield real estate agent.
According to the police bail documents, on April 12, when Allison Baden-Clay had barely a week left to live, her husband picked up the phone in his office and dialled the company that held one of her two life insurance policies.
He asked for information on the policy but was told it could not be provided because it was not in his name, police alleged.
It had been more than a week since he had emailed his lover from a fake email account, reaffirming his love and reiterating a promise.
"I have given you a commitment and I intend to stick to it. I will be separated by 1 July," he wrote to Ms McHugh under his pseudonym, the police documents claim.
His commitment, the police have alleged, involved sorting out his extremely dire financial situation so he could leave his family and be with her.
He could not afford a divorce, he allegedly told her, but he would work things out so they could be together, the police court papers say.
The documents say that on April 18, two days before he would place a Triple 0 call to report his wife missing, Baden-Clay picked up his iPhone, logged onto the internet and searched the term "taking the Fifth".
The search yielded a raft of results, but Baden-Clay allegedly clicked on the "self-incrimination" Wikipedia link.
When Allison disappeared, the police argued, Baden-Clay was $1 million in debt.
Of that, $275,000 was owed to friends in "gentlemen's agreements", $200,000 to a former business partner, $335,000 as guarantor on a mortgage, $45,000 on a credit card, $75,000 to the CEO of Century 21, various business loans and police allege $58,000 to his parents, Nigel and Elaine.
"Enquiries to date have failed to identify any legitimate means of salvaging his debt or finances prior to July 2012 in order to meet his commitment to McHugh," the police affidavit said.
Brisbane's Supreme Court after hearing that he had been
denied bail on a charge of murder.
But Baden-Clay had found a quick means of earning $967,000, the Crown has alleged, in his wife's life insurance policies and superannuation fund.
In the police documents, officers said he told them he had gone to bed at 10pm and left her watching television.
He is such a heavy sleeper, he told them, that he had no idea whether she came to bed.
But the next morning, on April 20, he became concerned when he awoke about 6am and found her missing.
She was supposed to have gone to a real estate conference that morning and she needed to leave by 7am, police claim he told them.
But before he called police, he again allegedly logged onto his phone and searched for "self-incrimination".
From there, he searched the Queensland Police Service website before dialling Triple 0, the bail documents say.
That morning police claim he would give four different stories to friends and family about a walk Allison could have taken when she disappeared.
To some, officers say, he said Allison liked to take a walk early in the morning. To his sister, Olivia Walton, he allegedly described a particular route. He told a close friend of Allison's that she would walk at 10pm each night and he described to Allison's parents two different walking routes.
But when police asked, they said he told them he had no idea where she would have gone walking.
A local hairdresser who had done Allison's hair on April 19 said she would never have ruined her new "do" by exercising, the police argued in court papers.
speaking to the media after Gerard Baden-Clay's arrest.
Baden-Clay allegedly told police that day his wife had found out about an affair he'd been having. An affair that he had ended in September, 2011.
They had been having counselling, officers said he told them, and the counsellor had suggested they talk about the affair.
He allegedly told police he had had a conversation with his wife the night before but would not say what they discussed.
Police who searched the Brookfield Rd house would find a journal Allison had been keeping and according to the police affidavit, on April 18 and 19 she had been writing about her husband's affair.
One entry was a list of questions: "how were the hotels paid for?" "Did 'she' ever say she felt bad because he was married?" "How many people in the office knew?" "Did (the defendant) regret the whole thing, or just being caught?"
Despite saying he had a heavy night of sleep, police have alleged Baden-Clay was awake for most of it.
Police say phone records show at 8.45pm, his phone was removed from its charger. It was plugged back in at 1.48am.
Shortly after midnight, it was allegedly used to call his father's phone via a "FaceTime" call, which allows both parties to see each other and talk.
At 6.18am, Baden-Clay's phone was again taken off the charger, the police bail documents say.
An examination of Baden-Clay's car, leased just eight weeks earlier, found blood in the rear boot section and a blonde hair, the police claim in their opposition to bail.
The hair is still undergoing examination, the court documents say. The blood came back as belonging to Allison, the court was told.
events the night Allison Baden-Clay disappeared, and the
aftermath, in today's Courier-Mail print edition.
But barrister for Baden-Clay, Mr Davis, questioned police claims that the blood found in the vehicle was Allison's, and the Crown seemed to assert that Allison was murdered, put in the car and dumped.
"The post-mortem doesn't support that," he said, and that it was a luminol test only and not her blood.
Mr Davis said the only injury revealed a chip to her bottom left eye tooth.
"There are no cuts or wounds from which she could bleed," he said.
The police claimed in their court documents, Baden-Clay maintained contact with Ms McHugh.
Police say Ms McHugh had told them he called her from pay phones and emailed her as Bruce Overland. He needed to "lay low" he said, but he would be in touch.
On April 30, when a body was found by a passing canoeist under the Kholo Creek bridge, Baden-Clay was allegedly back on his phone.
In their court affidavit, police say Baden-Clay allegedly had his financial adviser call about Allison's life insurance policy, letting the company know there was a pending claim. He did this, police told the court, before the body had even been identified.
Baden-Clay also allegedly requested a copy of her death certificate and made claims against both of her policies.
Mr Davis said the discovery of the body was well publicised, and in relation to his financial affairs his client was only doing what he was obliged to do.
He said there was no evidence of a weapon, or that he had left the family home on the evening of her disappearance, or been seen in the vicinity of where Allison was discovered.
He argued there was no evidence of a cause of death, nor a geographical location of death, nor was there anything that placed his client where his wife's body was found.
But the judge found Baden-Clay was flight risk and denied bail.
He is due to appear in the Brisbane Magistrates Court on July 9 for committal mention.
23.6.12
