Marcin Porczynski pleads guilty to Nicola Cross killing Published duration 16 December 2016

image copyright JOHN O REILLY image caption Danny Cross told the court a mindless ferocious knife attack had taken his "sickeningly perfect" wife Nicola from her family

A man has admitted killing a woman whose last words and screams were heard over the phone by her husband.

Marcin Porczynski broke into Nicola Cross's home in Hemel Hempstead and attacked her with a knife shortly after she called 999 because she was alarmed by him banging on several doors.

Her husband was on the phone to her when she was stabbed and told the court he still hears her screams and pleas.

Porczynski, 24, had been questioned by police shortly before the attack.

He admitted manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility and will be sentenced on Monday.

image copyright John O Reilly image caption Porczynski broke into Nicola Cross's home after police had stopped and searched him

St Albans Crown Court was told the warehouse worker was suffering from paranoid schizophrenia at the time of the attack and had been hearing voices for up to two years.

Porczynski, of Claymore Avenue in Hemel Hempstead, had knocked on the doors of a number of houses in the Dunlin Road area, including 37-year-old Mrs Cross's home, on 14 September 2015.

Her husband Danny Cross was working in Hull and she was alone with her children.

She had been alarmed by Porczynski's behaviour and called the police, who searched and questioned him before leaving the street, the court heard.

image copyright JOHN O REILLY image caption Porczynski had been knocking on doors in the area asking 'where are the kids' just before he killed Mrs Cross

Porczynski broke into the home of one of Mrs Cross's neighbours, only to be disturbed by a male occupant.

The court was told he threw a plant pot through a window at the back of Mrs Cross's home while she was on the telephone to her husband.

Porczynski took a knife from a block in the kitchen and attacked the mother upstairs.

Prosecutor Christopher Donnellan QC said: "Over the telephone Danny Cross heard his wife scream and say 'Get out of the house'."

Mr Cross then heard his wife shout: "You don't need to do this."

Porczynski replied "I do, I do" followed by a loud scream and silence, the court was told.

image copyright SBNA image caption Mr Cross said he still hears the last phone call with his wife, which he plays over and over in his head

Mrs Cross was stabbed 10 times.

Porczynski was found in the back garden with one of the children by officers who were attending the break-in next door.

He has been kept at secure facility Rampton Hospital since his arrest.