Murder suspect 'nearly killed dog with bayonet'

Ronald Cooke grabbed a bayonet after both he and Tina Billingham had been bitten by the animal, Wolverhampton Crown Court heard.

But the 55-year-old decided he could not harm his pet and shattered a glass computer table with the weapon instead, he explained.

The defendant agreed when Miss Rachel Brand QC, prosecuting, suggested during cross examination that he and Miss Billingham, aged 54, had been 'rowing and bickering' most of the day she died.

He wrecked the house phone, smashed Miss Billingham's mobile to pieces, pushed her onto a settee and thrown a toy box which hit her before the dog intervened.

Cooke conceded that this had been one sided aggressive behaviour from him, during which his partner 'didn't say a lot.'

He continued: "While I pulled at Tina's jumper the dog did something it had never done before. He attacked and started to bite her.

"I lunged forward and grabbed him by the hind legs. I didn't want her harmed by the dog and he turned and bit me on the knee and wrist." One of his sons heard the commotion and came to the rescue, it was said.

Cooke declared: "I fetched an antique bayonet from my bedroom. I was angry and thought of disposing of the dog but could not do that."

He admitted not bothering to call an ambulance after his partner had apparently taken a drugs overdose earlier in their relationship.

The defendant alleged this was done to force him to leave the house they shared in Granville Road, Old Hill, and went to live with one of his sons for five weeks.

He left after asking one of her sons - both had children from previous relationships who lived elsewhere - to come round and check on her condition.

He explained: "If she had taken an overdose I didn't want to be blamed for it." Miss Brand asked: "Perhaps because you had bullied and dominated her?" He replied: "Perhaps."

Cooke claimed Miss Billingham stabbed herself with a sword stick as he drove with her in his van on February 6 but Miss Brand insisted:

"The fact is you stabbed her in a fit of temper. You had been in foul temper all day and after stabbing her your thoughts turned to how you could save yourself."

When asked to explain how Miss Billingham could stab herself twice in the heart and liver while they sat beside each other in the vehicle without him seeing her deliver the blows, as he has alleged. He replied: "I can't."

Cooke denies murdering Miss Billingham on February 6 and the trial continues.