Fotis Dulos pleaded not guilty to murder on Thursday after being reprimanded as 'stupid' by the judge for violating his house arrest conditions to remove items from a memorial for his presumed-dead wife.

The 52-year-old is charged with murdering his wife Jennifer at her home in New Canaan, Connecticut, in May this year. She vanished that day after dropping their five children off at school.

Her body has never been found but police say they found pools of her blood that someone had tried to clean up, along with traces of her DNA and blood in cars that Fotis was driving that day.

He was granted bail last week and was put on house arrest.

He denied the charges on Thursday and insists he still does not know what happened to her.

The judge told him if he broke the conditions of his bail, he would increase it from to $6million - which he posted last week - to $12million.

He also took away his freedom to go to work. Fotis' attorneys said he needed to work because he has 'financial problems'.

Fotis Dulos is shown on Thursday morning at Stamford Superior Court for a bond hearing

Before entering his plea, he was reprimanded by the judge for getting out of his car while driving into his home on January 17 to remove items from a memorial that had been left to his wife.

'What he did was stupid. Don't do it again,' Judge Gary White said. He allowed him to remain on house arrest.

It is unclear what he took away from the memorial.

Fotis' attorney, Norm Pattis, said the complaint was unwarranted 'nonsense'.

'He got out of his car on the way home? Seriously?

'We need to get this trial on as quickly as possible to put an end to this nonsense,' he said.

He also said the memorial had been left there to 'taunt him'.

[This] is not an ordinary memorial, but is designed as a means of taunting Mr. Dulos,' he said.

Prosecutors say they have extensive DNA evidence linking Fotis to the crime that includes pools of her blood that were found inside the garage of her rental home where the alleged took place, and traces of her blood in vehicles used on the day she vanished.

Fotis and his wife had been arguing in court over the custody of their five children.

In court filings, Jennifer said she was afraid of him and that she feared he would harm her.

She had also written blog posts, years before the pair separated, where she talked about her fear that she would end up 'in a body bag'.

One memorial included flowers and a pumpkin which appeared to have Jennifer's maiden name initials - JF- written on them. The memorial is shown on January 10

This is the memorial on Thursday afternoon. The pumpkin had been removed but a different set of flowers and a ribbon reading 'Justice for Jennifer' remained

The home where Fotis is confined to in between court appearances while he awaits trial

Fotis was being sued by Jennifer's mother, Gloria, for $2.5million in unpaid loans which she claims he owed her family.

He is fighting that civil lawsuit at the same time as the criminal trial, and says he owes them nothing.

Jennifer's late father gave him the money, he said, as an investment and he claims if anything, the Farbers owe him money - but he is not demanding they pay him.

Prosecutors also say that Fotis instructed his girlfriend, Troconis, to lie and say she had an alibi for him on the day Jennifer vanished.

They believe his lawyer, Kent Mawhinney, may also have been involved and that he was plotting his own potential attack against his own wife.

Mawhinney denies those charges.