A taxi driver bludgeoned his wife and three young children to death with a rounders bat after she had an affair with a married man, a court has heard.
Rahan Arshad, 36, repeatedly clubbed his family with the weapon bought a day earlier before he fled to Thailand, Manchester Crown Court was told.
The bodies lay undiscovered at their home in Turves Road, Cheadle Hulme, Manchester, for almost a month.
The court heard that when arrested by police, he confessed to the murder.
Opening the case for the prosecution, Paul Reid QC told the eight-woman, four-man jury that the evidence they would hear would be distressing.
He detailed how the prosecution claims Arshad killed his wife Uzma Rahan, 32, sons Adam, 11, and Abbas, eight, and daughter Henna, six, last July. His wife's body was found in the main bedroom upstairs and the children were found in the lounge.
Mr Reid told the jury the couple were married in 1992 in an arranged marriage.
He said their relationship hit the rocks from before Easter 2003 because Arshad believed his wife was having an affair with a married man known as Nikki.
Mr Reid said: "Despite Uzma's denials to many about the affair, including her family and friends, the affair was an open secret and lasted until about April 2006."
Arshad denies four counts of murder.
