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A husband of 33 years told a 999 operator "sorry to bother you, I've just killed my wife" after she scolded him for serving up dry chicken, a court heard.

Russell Worthington, 61, said he "just snapped" when wife Gail, 63, smashed him over the head as he prepared dinner at home in Amesbury, near Salisbury.

He is alleged to have stabbed his wife with an eight-inch carving knife before he later told police "she drove me to it". His wife survived the attack and Worthington is on trial for GBH.

Police and paramedics arrived at the couple's house to find Worthington sobbing while his wife was bleeding heavily and barely conscious on the sofa.

(Image: Solent News & Photo Agency)

The court heard Worthington lashed out at his spouse after she blasted him for serving up dry chicken after they returned from the supermarket.

An extraordinary 999 call moments after the attack was played at Salisbury Crown Court.

In the recording, Worthington says: "I'm sorry to bother you, but I've just killed my wife. She's awake, but she's trying to die, I've stabbed her with a carving knife.

"She's really f***** me up. I just snapped. The knife is in the kitchen. I'm not violent, when the police get here I'm going to help them, I'm not going to be violent.

(Image: Getty Images)

"I won't hurt her any further, and I'm not going to hurt anyone who turns up here, I've just reached the end of my tether. She's hated my guts for the last 30 years, but I've lived with it. It goes on and on and on.

"I took her in because she needed looking after, and all she's done is give me s*** ever since. I'm so sorry, I'm not a bad person, I just can't take it. I'm a nice bloke.

"She's p***** as a cricket, that's why I have done it. I didn't want to hurt her, I just wanted her to stop. I just want her to go to sleep and not wake up again.

"She's gone very grey in the face. Oh sweetheart I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry, after all these years.

"I don't want her to die, I just want to get her the help that she needed. I have tried for the last 33 years to end her misery, but I'm not enough.

"I just picked up the knife and thought 'f*** you' and I stabbed her. Stay still, the ambulance is coming now. Don't worry my darling."

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At Worthington's trial, his wife Gail who spent five weeks in intensive care following the alleged attack with severe abdomen injuries, leapt to her husband's defence.

She claimed she was drunk at the time and that he had never been violent towards her.

She said: "[Drinking] turns me into a monster. I can never remember anything, but this is what he tells me.

"I completely change and get nasty - I swear at him, curse him and go off in another world. It's not very nice for him.

"I think something like that must have happened that Thursday to make him do that."

Jodie Mittell, defending, said Worthington did not stab Gail, adding that she 'staggered' into the knife.

Ms Mittell said to Gail: "He didn't stab you. You, in your drunken state, staggered onto [the knife]" and she replied: "It could have happened like that."

Worthington denies wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm.

The trial continues.