A FRANTIC wife disarmed her husband moments before he grabbed another kitchen knife from their home and stabbed his next-door neighbour, a court heard.

Helen Thornley told a jury that she hoped her husband James had not “done something stupid” when she saw the man next door, Mark Sweeney, lying in a pool of blood.

Mrs Thornley was giving evidence yesterday at the Teesside Crown Court trial of her husband, who is accused of murdering Mr Sweeney, on June 26 this year.

The court heard the pair fell out over a practical joke at a barbecue at the Thornleys’ home in Hollowfield, Chilton, County Durham.

Earlier, the men had shaken hands after Mr Thornley accused Mr Sweeney of putting a “for sale” sign in his garden as a joke.

Graham Reeds, prosecuting, said the men were soon “squaring up to each other”

before things calmed down.

However, as Mrs Thornley was clearing up at about 11.30pm, she found her husband standing outside with a kitchen knife in his hand.

Mrs Thornley, who was screened from her husband as she gave evidence, said: “I saw Jimmy with a knife by his side. I grappled the carving knife from him and told him to go back in the house.”

Moments later, Mark Sweeney, 37, who had been ushered away by friends, returned like a “raging bull”

trying to confront Mr Thornley, 43, the court was told.

Mrs Thornley said: “I saw Jimmy and I remember thinking to myself ‘thank God he hasn’t done anything stupid and got another knife’.”

Mrs Thornley said her husband came up behind her as Mr Sweeney grabbed at his throat, pushing his thumbs into his windpipe.

She said: “Mark turned round and fell on the fence and then somebody said ‘Mark, you’ve been stabbed’.”

Mrs Thornley said her husband went to the kitchen to wash the knife, which he replaced in the block on the worktop.

The victim’s partner, Amanda Waterworth, called the emergency services. Mr Sweeney, who suffered two stab wounds, died in hospital early the next morning.

Ms Waterworth’s 999 call was played yesterday, and the court was cleared when Mr Thornley broke down in tears.

Mr Thornley denies murder, claiming he was acting in self-defence and had been provoked, and the trial continues.