‘She tried to stab me and brought death on herself’
ABUILDER accused of murdering his partner said he did it to defend himself and claimed she was partially responsible for her own death.
During cross-examination by prosecuting barrister Ian Unsworth QC, Anthony Bird was asked if it was necessary to strangle Tracy Kearns at the home they shared in Kinmel Bay in May. Bird said: “I believed it was, yes.” Mr Unsworth accused Bird of trying to discredit Miss Kearns, blaming her for her death, and asked him if it was her fault.
Bird said: “She came at me with scissors... The provocation… if she had not come at me with a scissors, it would not have happened.”
Mr Unsworth said that while Bird claimed that he had defended himself he had not sustained a single injury, and accused him of making up the alleged scissor attack.
Bird, 49, denied this during the seventh day of his trial at Mold Crown Court.
He said he was seeking to prevent the 43-year-old mother of two from attacking him – and had not been provoked by her words.
The trial had previously heard Bird claim that Miss Kearns had told him about wearing sexy underwear and compared him unfavourably to her lover, Andrew Jones.
Bird, of Cader Avenue, denies the murder of Miss Kearns, 43, at the home they shared, between May 7 and May 11, but accepts that he was responsible for her death after discovering that she was having an affair.
Her body was discovered on May 13.
Mr Unsworth said the account given by Bird, of the fight on May 7 that led to her death, was a lie.
Bird said he could not explain the injuries around her head and face but said he did not smother her.
Asked if he placed one of his hands across her mouth and nose, he replied: “I don’t think so. I don’t recall doing so, no.”
He did not punch her and did not recall striking her, he said.
Bird said he did not know how she sustained bruising to the face and right eye.
Mr Unsworth said that it had been a “prolonged and sustained attack in her own home” in which he punched her, struck her and “showered her with injuries”. Bird denied this. Asked why he applied pressure to her neck, he said “because she was thrashing around”.
Asked if she was thrashing around because of the pressure he was applying, he replied “no”.
Mr Unsworth said that Bird intended to kill her in a sustained and prolonged assault. He denied the claim. Mr Unsworth said: “All that we know is that sometime before 9.30pm (on Sunday, May 7) Tracy Kearns returned to the house and entered the front door. She never emerged again.”
Only Bird knew what had happened and when the attack took place, he said.
“Do you still want to get away with it?” Mr Unsworth asked.
Bird replied: “I am responsible for Tracy’s death. I can’t get away with it.”
Mr Unsworth said that only Bird knew how he intended to get rid of the body.
He said that it was a cold and calculated killing and accused Bird of doing his best to cover his tracks.
“You have told a pack of lies,” Mr Unsworth said. Bird replied: “No, I have not.” The trial continues.