Christine Rawle trial: Tearful interview of woman accused of murdering husband played to court

• ITV West Country's Jacquie Bird reports from Exeter Crown Court.

The tearful first interviews of Christine Rawle, the woman accused of murdering her husband in North Devon, have been played to a jury.

Christine Rawle, 70, is on trial for allegedly stabbing Ian Rawle in the back with a large knife at their north Devon home in 2022. She denies murder.

At Exeter Crown Court on Wednesday 13 March, the jury began hearing the first of the police interviews with Christine Rawle that began the day after her husband died.

Asked what had happened that afternoon, initially, she told detectives she "just snapped" but then said the events were like a dream after she had called her husband to help her with the horses.

She said: "He said that I was going to die. It just seemed like a bad dream, I was so afraid, I thought he really is going to kill me. He had several goes at it before and I thought this is it. And then I don't really remember."

When asked if she had stabbed her husband, Mrs Rawle said: "I must have, I was the only one there."

The jury had been read a catalogue of text messages chronicling three years between Mr and Mrs Rawle.

Throughout, there were endearments between the two of them, but as the time went on, there were a number from Mrs Rawle accusing her husband of being weak, feeble, a pathetic excuse of a man.

In one she said: "I will see you dead before I give in, I'll not submit to your torture."

There were few responses to these from Mr Rawle, but in one he said: "How much do you expect me to endure."

The court was also told of a financial investigation into the couple's bank accounts and about Mr Rawle's will in which he had left everything to his wife.

The jury heard that Mrs Rawle had "unfettered" access to the couple's joint account, into which all of Mr Rawle's income was paid.

Christine Rawle denies murder. The trial continues.