An accountant has admitted killing his wife, whose body was found buried in a shallow grave in the backyard of their family home in Perth.

Ahmed Dawood Seedat, 36, appeared in Stirling Gardens Magistrates Court via video link from Hakea prison on Wednesday where he pleaded guilty to murdering Fahima Yusuf, 32, in Carlisle on August 31.

She was reported missing four days after the killing and police made the grim discovery when they dug up the rear garden of the couple’s Weston Street house the following day.

The toys of their two young children lay nearby as forensic officers combed the scene.

The case made headlines in South Africa and the UK as the victim was reportedly British, while Seedat was born in Durban.

A psychiatric report was ordered after his defence lawyer said there were “complex psychological factors” in the couple’s relationship.

A sentencing hearing will be held in the West Australian Supreme Court on May 8.