Paragraphs 18 & 19 read:  “In the witness box, Mr
Sinclair also described how he had been depressed at
various times in his life, particularly after the death of his father.”

“He told the court he had been taking medication
and was smoking up to 100 cigarettes a day.”

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/hampshire/8319055.stm

Page last updated at 17:40 GMT, Wednesday, 21
October 2009 18:40 UK

Phone boss ‘traded knife swipes’

Sally Sinclair was
head of business analysis at Vodafone

A man accused of murdering his
Vodafone executive wife has told a court the pair traded swipes with knives
after she admitted having an affair.

Sally Sinclair, 40, was found
with more than 30 stab wounds at their home in Amport, Hampshire, in August
2008.

At the time, she was head of business analysis at the mobile phone
firm’s world headquarters near Newbury.

Alisdair Sinclair, 48, formerly
of Georgia Lane, Amport, began giving his evidence at Winchester Crown Court.

Mr Sinclair cried several times in court, the BBC’s Steve Humphrey said.

The defendant told the court he had run at his wife of 21 years while
she finally admitted to having an affair, while they argued in the kitchen of
their rented luxury property.

I would give up my life for Sally but I thought I was dying

Alisdair Sinclair

Mr Sinclair, a house husband, told the jury she had
got a knife from a block and stabbed him in the hands while he shielded himself.

He then got a knife himself, he said, and they traded swipes before he
was stabbed in the stomach.

Eventually, he lunged at her neck in a
panic, as he thought he was dying, and she had fallen to the floor “like a
stone”, the court heard.

“All I remember thinking is I’m dying, I’m
dying – Sally’s strong,” he said.

“If I had known what had happened I
would have more than willingly died instead – that’s for sure. I would give up
my life for Sally but I thought I was dying.”

‘100 cigarettes a
day’

He said he remembered nothing after kneeling beside her and
thinking she was dead, including inflicting a massive sawn wound to her neck.

Mr Sinclair admitted in court that he had killed his wife and had
inflicted the “horrible” injuries, but said he had never meant to do it and that
it was self defence up until the point she had fallen.

His defence
counsel Robert Fortune QC asked: “Were all the injuries self-defence or beyond
self-defence?”
The couple rented the secluded detached house in
Amport

Mr Sinclair replied: “I believe it went beyond self-defence.”

In the witness box, Mr Sinclair also described how he had been depressed
at various times in his life, particularly after the death of his father.

He told the court he had been taking medication and was smoking up to
100 cigarettes a day.

Mr Sinclair also gave the jury an insight into his
obsessive behaviour.

He said he often bought dozens of pairs of socks
and trousers and the couple also had a collection of very expensive cars.

He hardly ever drove them, he told the court.

The trial
continues.