Accused killer Gerard Baden-Clay says when he inquired about how to claim his wife’s life insurance the day after her body was found on a Brisbane creek bank, he was just following his father’s advice.

Giving evidence at his murder trial on what would have been his wife Allison’s birthday, the 43-year-old former real estate agent was asked by his barrister whether he contacted insurers Asteron Life on May 1, 2012.

“That’s correct. The day before, we had found Allison’s body and we knew it had been confirmed it was her,” Baden-Clay, becoming emotional, told Brisbane’s Supreme Court.

“Dad told me that I really had an obligation to the insurers to let them know. That was why I made the call.”

Dressed in a dark suit and yellow-striped tie, Baden-Clay also said he and his wife had stopped making payments on their credit card because they had decided to prioritise other debts.

He denied that on April 19, 2012, the night before he reported Allison missing, he was under significant financial or relationship pressure, as the Crown claimed.

“That’s not correct. Allison and I were working together very well on both our relationship and the business,” he said.

“Financially the business was turning around and we were moving forward. Things were getting better.”

Baden-Clay says claims he wanted to leave his wife for his mistress Toni McHugh were “absolutely untrue”.

“My intention was to end any relationship with Toni McHugh and solidify and continue to rebuild the relationship with Allison for our future together,” he said.

Gerard Baden-Clay.

His barrister, Michael Byrne QC, asked him to comment on the Crown’s proposition that he had been concerned Ms McHugh and his wife were about to come together at a real estate conference the next day, April 20, 2012.

“I didn’t have any concerns about it,” Baden-Clay said, adding that his wife was not confrontational and it was a corporate function.

“It didn’t even enter my mind to be concerned they were going to see each other there,” he said.

I didn’t love my mistress: Baden-Clay

Today, the Crown began to cross examine Baden-Clay’s testimony.

Baden-Clay agreed with Prosecutor Todd Fuller that he deceived his wife for more than four years, as well as his lover Toni McHugh and family.

But he denied he was in a relationship with Ms McHugh from late 2011 to the time of his wife’s disappearance, despite promising her in emails he would leave his wife.

Mr Fuller asked the accused about emails he sent Ms McHugh in April 2012 from a secret account.

Baden-Clay wrote on April 3: “I have given you a commitment and I intend to stick to it – I will be separated by July 1” and on April 11: “This is agony for me too. I love you”.

“You couldn’t live without her could you?” Mr Fuller said.

“Yes, I could,” Baden-Clay replied.

“I often said to her things in order to placate her, what she wanted to hear … I hoped it would calm her down.”

He also said he wanted to keep having sex with her and had no intention of leaving his wife.

Baden-Clay agreed with Mr Fuller that up until his wife found out about the affair, he had the best of both worlds: a wife and family, and a lover.

He also admitted to arranging sex with a woman he knew at a Sydney real estate conference in a third, brief affair.

He said the woman, Jackie Crane, was worker for a real estate agency on the Sunshine Coast and he had met her at a training course.

Allison Baden-Clay’s body was found on a creek bank at Anstead in Brisbane’s west on April 30, 2012, 10 days after Baden-Clay reported her missing.

Baden-Clay has pleaded not guilty to murder.

The trial continues.