A man has accepted responsibility for stabbing his estranged wife to death but told a jury that he has no memory of inflicting almost 70 wounds.

Harry Turner said the last thing he remembers is his wife, Sally, whispering to him that he ‘will never see the girls again’ and the next thing he remembers was standing over the fatally injured 50-year-old.

Newcastle Crown Court heard how the 55-year-old had moved out of the family property two weeks before the alleged murder and was living in his stepdaughter’s County Durham home.

The Northern Echo: Sally TurnerSally Turner

Jurors heard how Turner has pleaded guilty to the manslaughter of the mother-of- four but denies her murder after he stabbed her to death on June 22, 2022.

Giving evidence, the postman said: “Sally whispered to me ‘you will never see the girls again’.

“I don’t remember anything after that.”

When asked by defence barrister, Andrew Ford KC, what he remembered next. The defendant replied: “The next thing I remember is standing over her and I had a knife in my hand.

“She was laid down on the floor near to the front door.”

Turner told the jury that he was in a ‘daze’ and was still in shock when he was arrested by police after he told his stepdaughter Ronnie Beamish where she could find him.

Mr Ford put it to the defendant that he had admitted the manslaughter of his estranged wife.

Turner said: “I know that I have killed her. I don’t remember doing it.

“I was the only one there so I know that I did it.”

Earlier in the trial, jurors heard how Mrs Taylor was having an affair with the taxi driver who took her disabled granddaughter to and from school.

The Northern Echo: Police at the scene of the alleged murder on Cuthbert Avenue, DurhamPolice at the scene of the alleged murder on Cuthbert Avenue, Durham

The 50-year-old suffered 78 wounds, including defence injuries, from at least 68 knife blows with the deepest being 11cm deep and one was so powerful that it broke her shoulder blade while another broke one of her ribs.

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Mrs Turner was found collapsed behind the door of the house on Cuthbert Avenue, Durham, when she failed to pick up her granddaughter when she was dropped off by taxi.

Home Office pathologist Dr Louise Mulcahy told the court that Mrs Turner’s cause of death was multiple stab wounds to the neck and torso.

The 55-year-old Turner, of Tiree Close, Brandon, denies murdering his estranged wife but has admitted the charge of manslaughter.

The trial continues.