Jury retires in councillor wife stabbing trial

The jury in the trial of a former councillor accused of attempting to stab his wife to death has retired to consider its verdict.

Darren Brown, 35, of Wildmill, Bridgend, has admitted grievous bodily harm with intent, but denied attempted murder.

Cardiff Crown Court heard the former Bridgend town councillor stabbed his wife Corinne, 33, in the back as she leant over a cot to comfort her crying child and that he "wanted her dead".

She was stabbed three times at their home on 10 July last year after a row about the end of their 16-year relationship.

Mrs Brown suffered a punctured lung and spent five days in hospital.

The court was told the mother-of-two tried to escape by locking herself in the bathroom, but Mr Brown broke through the door and stabbed her again.

At one point he tried to give the knife to her, telling her, "We can go together."

James Wilson, prosecuting, said after the attack Mr Brown left the house, locking the front door behind him.

He told the jury Mr Brown "did nothing to help her".

"It could have been fatal," he said.

Kevin Seal, defending, said Mr Brown had never "laid a finger" on his wife before.

The night before the attack Mrs Brown returned from a weekend trip to Southend-on-Sea.

She had gone to see a chef in his 50s she had met on social media.

The court heard Mrs Brown told her husband their relationship was over the week before. She said she was no longer in love with her husband.

The spark in their marriage, she said, had gone.

Mr Seal said his client was "distraught" about the end of their marriage.

"All he wanted her to do was acknowledge and feel his pain," he said.

Mr Seal told the court Mr Brown took the knife "to scare her, to get her to shut up and listen".

Mr Brown, said Mr Seal, "couldn't grasp what he had done".

"He wanted to preserve his marriage and family," he said.

"What he achieved was to lose it."