In an exclusive interview with The Daily Telegraph, the 57-year-old says he has never recovered from the horrific events of February 1986 when his wife was brutally raped and murdered.

Within hours of Anita’s badly beaten body being found in a paddock in Reen Rd, Prospect, on February 4, 1986, Cobby was hauled into Blacktown police station and accused of killing her.

The questioning was so intense and he was so distraught by what had happened that he broke down and collapsed in the police interview room.

“I told them ‘Yep, I did it, I must of did it’,” he recalls.

Mr Cobby says he remembers asking the police for Anita’s wedding ring, the only piece of jewellery or clothing found on her slashed, bruised and naked body.

“They threw it down on the table in a plastic bag ... it still had Anita’s blood on it,’’ he says

Mr Cobby became so reclusive after the murder that few people realised he and Anita were married and had only separated weeks before her murder.

They were due to be reunited the week she died.

CHAPTER ONE: ANITA COBBY - THE SAVAGE MURDER THAT ROCKED SYDNEY

“Just those ringlets of hair everywhere and a dazzling smile. I loved her so much,’’ he says.

The day after Anita’s funeral Mr Cobby fled to the US, where he suffered a complete breakdown before returning a few months later after the killers — John Travers, Michael Murdoch and brothers, Garry, Michael and Les Murphy — had been caught.

“I just couldn’t handle all the publicity,” Mr Cobby says.

“I blamed myself for her dying and still do. I should have been with her.’’

Again he left Australia and worked in England before coming back to Australia and changing his name.

“I was so paranoid people would recognise me or blame me that I would shave my head, dye it — anything to try and hide.’’

It is only recently that he changed his name back to Cobby, to honour her memory and help himself finally heal from some of his unimaginable pain.

The pair had been married for four years and had only split six weeks before her death. The weekend before Anita’s murder they had got back together and were looking for a flat together.

“I rang her on the Sunday morning and I asked if she wanted to be picked up from work but she told me she had already organised going to dinner with some friends and to stay with her parents,’’ Mr Cobby recalls.

That night Anita dined with two colleagues from Sydney Hospital and then caught the 8.48pm train to Blacktown.

Normally, the 26-year-old would ring her ­father to collect her but all of the phones had been vandalised and there were no cabs.

She started to walk down Newton Rd when neighbours heard a “blood-curdling” scream and others said said they saw a woman being dragged into a car.

Three decades later Mr Cobby has decided to tell his story after the deaths of Anita’s parents Garry and Grace Lynch and on the anniversary of his wife’s death to give her a voice and make sure her killers are never released.

After coming back to Australia John married and had two children. He still works as a psychiatric nurse at a Sydney hospital and lives alone in Bronte.

The interview is extracted from Remembering Anita Cobby by Mark Morri, published this week by Random House.

A TIMELINE OF HORROR

Sunday February 2, 1986 Anita Cobby finishes her shift as a nurse and goes to dinner with friends in Surry Hills. She catches a train from Central to Blacktown at 8.48pm. Later that night Blacktown police get reports of a screaming woman and send out a patrol car, but nothing is found.

February 3 At 6.30pm Anita’s father Garry Lynch reports Anita missing.

February 4 Her body is found in a paddock in Prospect. She has been beaten, raped and dragged through a barbed wire fence. Her throat has been cut. Anita’s husband John is questioned by police and released without charge.

February 5 Witnesses come forward giving more detail about hearing screams in Newton Rd on the Sunday night and saying they saw a woman dragged into a car.

February 6 A $50,000 reward is offered for the capture, or information leading to the capture, of Anita’s killers. It is later raised to $100,000.

Police pursue a man named John Travers, who is known to have sex with animals before slitting their throats.

February 21 Police arrest Travers, Michael Murdoch and Les Murphy on car theft.

While in the cells the next day Travers is recorded confessing to the murder. He adds the names of Michael and Gary Murphy.

By February 28 all five are in custody and are charged with the abduction, rape and murder of Anita Cobby. All make statements admitting they were there but saying they had nothing to do with raping or killing her, putting the blame on others. Only Travers admits to raping and killing Anita.

June 10 All five are found guilty of the murder of Anita Cobby.