Landlady denies murdering ex-police officer who had previously killed his wife

• Listen to the 999 call

A landlady asked a friend if she should stab her lodger hours before he was killed, a court has heard.

Dawn Lewis - who also went by the name Dawn Pendragon - phoned 999 on 18 April claiming her lodger, Glenn Richards, had tried to attack her.

She told the call operator that she had fought back in self defence.

But Bristol Crown Court heard that just hours earlier the 53-year-old landlady had called a friend, produced a knife and said: "Should I just go up to his bedroom and stab him and then stab myself a little bit and tell them he did this?"

Jurors heard Mr Richards was a former police officer who admitted the manslaughter of his wife because of diminished responsibility in 2002.

He had moved to Glastonbury after his release from prison and had become friends with Miss Lewis 12 years earlier. He had been living with her since August 2021.

But Elouise Marshall KC, prosecuting, told Bristol Crown Court Mr Marshall and Lewis had argued in the months leading up to his death.

He had complained that she was too noisy and she sent text messages to him, trying to get him to move out of her cottage in Glastonbury, Somerset.

The jury was played a 999 call made by Lewis.

She told the operator: "I went to the door. He stabbed me in the leg. I took the knife off him. I stabbed him. He fell down the stairs. I stabbed him again cause he was trying to take a knife off me."

Emergency services attended her home but were unable to save Mr Richards' life.

The court heard that following the incident Lewis' friend came forward and told police that earlier that same day she said she could stab Mr Richards and claim it was self-defence.

He said Lewis made the claim on a video call in which she carried an eight-inch knife.

He told the jury she said: "Should I just go up to his bedroom and stab him and then stab myself a little bit and tell them he did this?"

The court heard Mr Richards suffered five deep stab wounds as well as defensive cuts.

Lewis denies murder.

After being arrested, Lewis was taken to Yeovil District Hospital where she was treated for three light cuts.

A doctor who treated her said her injuries 'did not appear to fit the description of the attack,' that the cuts were not 'straight incisions' as with most offensive stab wounds and that they appeared 'self inflicted.'

The trial continues.