I put my hands on her throat and didn’t let go

YOUR GAGS

A HUSBAND strangled his wife to death and left her body on the living room floor for four hours after she confessed to having an affair, a court heard.

Gary Brockwell, 48, throttled 46-year-old Gaynor Brockwell at their home in Croydon, south London, in the early hours of October 8 last year.

He then made a tearful phonecall to his son in which he said: “Your mum’s dead. She’s on the floor. She’s not breathing.’

His wife’s lifeless body remained on the living room floor until later that morning when his son arrived and called the emergency services, the Old Bailey heard.

When police arrived to arrest the father-of-two, he admitted: “My wife’s having an affair. I just blew out and put my hands round her throat. I didn’t stop. I didn’t let go.”

On the night of the killing, the couple went drinking at a pub before returning home after midnight.

Prosecutorjohnmcguiness said: “They went inside, the two of them alone together, and once inside they put the radio on and began dancing.

“Then Gaynor said to him, ‘You know how much I love you but I’m seeing someone – I’m going tonight’, at which point he said she stroked his face.

“He said he felt angry and patronised,andsaidhesnapped.

“He then grabbed her round the throat with both hands, forcing her down to the floor. He said Gaynor was trying to remove his hands but he was just holding on.

“He said he never meant to kill her - he loved her, he idolised her.”

Brockwell, who claimed he had never been violent towards his wife before, denies murder on the grounds that he lacked intent to kill or cause grievous bodily harm, and separately on the grounds of loss of control.