Kayleigh Hanks: Ian Paton 'strangled partner while baby slept'

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-sussex-51212483

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A man strangled his on-off partner while their baby daughter slept in the same room, a jury has heard.

Ian Paton denies murdering Kayleigh Hanks, 29, at her flat in Bexhill-on-Sea, East Sussex, on 21 July.

The 36-year-old said he "restrained" her as she attacked him with a knife, Hove Crown Court heard.

Prosecutor Alexandra Healy QC said Mr Paton dialled 999 and told police: "I think I restrained her too hard and she'd stopped breathing."

While she lay unmoving, he set about cutting himself and arranging the scene to make it look like Miss Hanks had attacked him with a knife, his trial heard.

'Fabricated defence'

Ms Healy told jurors that Miss Hanks had confided in a number of people that the defendant had been violent towards her, and she to him.

The court heard Mr Paton, of Snowdrop Rise in St Leonards-on-Sea, once slammed Miss Hanks' head into a car dashboard and on another occasion dragged her from a car by her hair.

Her sister Emma Hanks said she had been unsettled when she witnessed Mr Paton demanding that Miss Hanks get on her knees and declare her love for him.

The prosecutor said: "Emma says that Kayleigh did that and put her hands into a prayer position."

On the night of the attack, Miss Hanks had been visiting her sister and left with the defendant for home at about 18:30 BST.

The court heard at about 00:30, Paton called 999 and said: "She went for me, she had a knife. I restrained her and she is on the floor now."

Ms Healy said: "The defendant claims he was acting in self-defence when he strangled Kayleigh Hanks, and he was much bigger than her.

"He has fabricated this defence. He cut himself in order to make it look as though he had been injured by Kayleigh brandishing the knife at him.

"He did not call an ambulance when he realised Kayleigh had stopped moving. Instead he set about laying the groundworks for this self-defence, cutting himself with the knife and placing the knife near Kayleigh's body."

The trial continues.