Man murdered wife after sending messages to relatives alleging lesbian affair, court hears

A man who is accused of murdering his wife apparently sent messages to relatives claiming she was having a lesbian affair, a court has been told.

David Clark from Worcestershire was told to move out of his marital home by his wife, Melanie Clark, after she apparently “pushed” and “double-dared” him into contacting family members about an alleged affair.

The 49-year-old property worker told jurors he could not remember how his wife suffered a fatal stab wound but she had taunted him saying he should “kill himself” and had mocked the size of his genitals.

Prosecutor Benjamin Aina QC claimed Mr Clark was in a “spiteful mood” after a heated exchange about the alleged affair.

Mr Clark responded: “No sir, I was just pushed. I don’t like conflict.

“She was just pushing me to send those messages – she was laughing at me, calling me names.

“She said ‘I don’t care if you tell everyone’.

“I don’t remember picking up the knife. I don’t remember anything of that. I just can’t comment on that sir.”

After Mr Aina described the messages sent to Melanie’s son and other family members as an “evil” attempt to blacken the 44-year-old’s character, Mr Clark said: “I wasn’t vengeful. It was really tense in the house.”

Mr Clark said he did not know whether his wife’s claim of having had a lesbian encounter was true or not and claimed she had walked into his room, shouted and sniggered at him.

He also said he could not recall telling a 999 operator he had killed Ms Clark.

During re-examination by defence QC Alisdair Williamson, Mr Clark was asked to recount the last words his wife had spoken to him.

Clark, who denies murder, answered tearfully: “That nobody liked me and if I would do everyone a favour and just kill myself because I was a piece of s***.”

The trial continues.

Agencies contributed to this report