Wife 'murdered solicitor husband when he lost his job' Published duration 22 February 2016

image copyright Ross Parry image caption Sharon and David Edwards married in Las Vegas in June 2015

A newlywed who "quite liked the idea of being a solicitor's wife" stabbed her husband after he was told he was losing his job, a court has heard.

Sharon Edwards, 42, denies murdering David Edwards, 51, with a kitchen knife at their home in Chorley, Lancashire.

The couple married in Las Vegas in June 2015 and Mr Edwards was found dead two months later, Manchester Crown Court was told.

The defendant was described as "domineering" and "very jealous".

The jury was told she had beaten her husband throughout their relationship and Mr Edwards had been recorded saying his new wife could "knock him out with one punch" and that she hit "rather hard".

Prosecuting, Anne Whyte QC said Mr Edwards, a criminal lawyer, had been "under the thumb" and was "plainly besotted" after meeting his wife-to-be in June 2014.

Blood on carpet

The court heard that, upon returning from a holiday in Spain on 22 August, the couple had argued and Mrs Edwards' 19-year-old daughter - who is to be a witness for the prosecution - saw Mr Edwards "calling for help" and cleaning blood from his chest.

Mrs Edwards told her daughter she had put a knife to his chest but had not intended to hurt him, jurors were told.

The court heard Mr Edwards would not say what had happened and despite being "visibly injured", the couple went to the pub.

Ms Whyte said: "There was blood on his T-shirt and shorts and around his leg. There was a cut to his head and blood coming down his neck. People expressed concern about him (at the pub) although Sharon Edwards notably did not."

The pair were later found arguing in the street before Mrs Edwards, who was "behaving in an accusing way", was taken home by police.

Mr Edwards was found dead in bed the following day. Blood was discovered on the carpet and in the kitchen.

'Went too far'

Before his holiday he was asked not to come back into work which "was perhaps just one of the reasons why the holiday was not an unmitigated success," Ms Whyte added.

The court heard Mrs Edwards told police: "I didn't know he had walked into [the knife] until I saw all the blood", and stated he had "begged" her not to call for an ambulance.

She added that they had gone upstairs to have sex and his wound had stopped bleeding before she had fallen asleep on the sofa.

Ms Whyte told the jury: "David Edwards has quite literally been stabbed in the heart. That, we say, could not have happened accidently.

"On 23 August [Mrs Edwards] went too far and she knows she went too far. Twice in two successive days she used such a weapon in anger against a man whom she knew would never restrain her or physically fight back."