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A "quiet" computer expert who suffered abuse at the hands of his depressed wife "snapped" and beat her to death with a crowbar after she called "limp and useless" over his erectile dysfunction.

Liverpool Crown Court heard David Pomphret, 51, battered Ann Marie, 49, over the head 30 times after his "volatile" wife began "ranting" at him.

Pomphret told his murder trial "I killed the woman I love" but denies murder on the grounds of a temporary loss of control which happened during an argument about DIY at the stables where they kept horses.

The court heard the couple had gone shopping at Asda on the evening of Friday November 2, 2018.

They then went to the stables near their home to check on their horses.

A tearful Pomphrey, a Barclays bank worker, told the court that his wife reacted badly when he told her he needed to pick up tools from the stables to to fix the shower at home.

The former civil servant claims his wife shouted he was "f****** crazy" and "just going to create more s***".

(Image: Liverpool Echo)

She then went on to criticise their daughter.

Pomphret said: "She called Meg a fat slag. Didn't like the clothes she was wearing. Too short, too revealing. That I was a crap parent, encouraging Meg to go out on Saturday night, the only reason Meg was going out was for sex."

He continued: "She ranted at me for being a bad parent, calling me f****** useless. Called me limp and useless. Bit embarrassing - we have been having, I have been having, erectile dysfunction. I was not performing very well.

"Marie was at this point raging, absolutely raging, finger pointing, screaming.

"She then slapped me across the face."

Richard Pratt QC, defending, asked Pomphret: "Then what happened?"

Pomphret replied: "Er, I remember reaching out, grabbing her hood and ... I don't remember."

Mr Pratt asked: "What's the next thing you remember?"

(Image: Liverpool Echo) (Image: Liverpool Echo)

Pomphret said: "I was standing at the side of her body. There was blood on my hands and the crowbar. She was on the floor."

The accused told the jury he had no recollection of attacking his wife with the crowbar.

Mr Pratt continued: "How did you feel, having seen her on the ground?"

Pomphret replied: "Awful. I had just killed my wife. I was just ... horrified."

He said he then panicked and "stupidly" decided to try to cover his tracks, burning his bloodied clothes and throwing the crowbar in a pond before returning home.

Described as a "quiet man", Pomphret suffered abuse from his wife, who struggled with depression, was having treatment for cancer and had been diagnosed with an autistic personality disorder, the jury has heard.

Giving evidence from the witness box on the sixth day of his trial, Pomphret, from Winwick, near Warrington, Cheshire, admits manslaughter but denies murder.

(Image: Liverpool Echo)

Mr Pratt asked him: "You accept, on the second of November last year, you battered your wife to death. How do you feel?"

Pomphret replied: "Er, terrible. I killed the woman I love. A horrible thing to do."

The couple met on Mrs Pomphret's 21st birthday and were "happily married" with one daughter, Megan, 18, but, over the course of their 22-year marriage, his wife's physical and mental health deteriorated, the jury heard.

Pomphret said his wife could go from being happy to depressed "in minutes" and become "very angry, very quickly".

The defendant said he and their daughter developed "coping mechanisms", removing themselves, or his wife, from a situation and deciding to "let her rant."

The trial continues.