My partner stabbed herself after I admitted to affair, says murder suspect

Ronald Cooke was travelling in his van with Tina Billingham when the fatal wounds to her heart and liver were inflicted.

He told Wolverhampton Crown Court: "She turned round and said: 'If there was a knife here I would stab myself.' I said: 'The only knife in here is the walking stick. I put it on the seat between us and said: 'Do what you want.'

"She had held me to ransom in the past. She had once taken an overdose to make me leave and I had done for five weeks."

The 55-year-old, who had been in a relationship with Miss Billingham for 17 years, added: "I didn't think she would do it. I was calling her bluff. I didn't expect her to do that."

Cooke said he did not see her stab herself because he was concentrating on driving but claimed that seconds later she slumped forward.

He declared: "I shouted 'Tina, Tina' and tried to pull her head up. The look on her face told me she needed medical attention. It was just panic stations."

Cooke, who has a medical condition which makes if difficult to raise his right arm above the shoulder, admitted being physically violent to 54-year-old Miss Billingham during their relationship.

He said: "At times I was abusive, regrettably. On occasions, to a degree, I was physically violent towards her. To a degree I was controlling of her."

Cooke confessed to ripping the phone out of the wall of their house in Granville Road, Old Hill and smashing her mobile after she had earlier failed to answer two of his calls on the day she died.

He claimed Miss Billingham did this to avoid calls from the hospital where her dementia-suffering uncle was due to be discharged that day after a six month stay by her.

Cooke confessed: "I can be angry at times over unnecessary things and she didn't want to fetch him out of hospital." He claimed this was because property had gone missing from the man's home while he had been away and she felt responsible.

The defendant admitted throwing a toy box in her direction and pushing her on the sofa before both were attacked by his dog 'Cookie,' the court heard.

He was allegedly driving her to collect her uncle later the same day when she was stabbed. He was asked if he was responsible for her death and replied: 'No.......I loved Tina very much.' Cooke denies murder and the case continues.