Royal aide's trial delayed

Jane Andrews (l) spent nearly a decade as Royal aide

The trial of the Duchess of York's former dresser Jane Andrews has been adjourned on medical advice.

Ms Andrews, who is accused of murdering her boyfriend Thomas Cressman, broke down in court on Thursday as she described the abuse she suffered as a child.

On Friday the judge, the Recorder of London Michael Hyam, told the Old Bailey jury that Andrews, 34, had fainted as she left the court and had been taken to hospital for treatment.

He said she was found to have a "pre-existing infection" and wanted to continue giving evidence, but her doctors had advised against it.

The judge therefore adjourned the trial until Tuesday.

Thomas Cressman: Found stabbed at his Fulham home

Before Thursday's proceedings were interrupted Ms Andrews had been telling the court how she had been an abuse victim at the age of eight. But she said the abuse was not at the hands of her parents.

She had told her defence barrister John Kelsey-Fry, QC, that she did not want to go into details. The court was adjourned until the afternoon.

Ms Andrews denies murdering Mr Cressman, 39, by hitting him on the head with a cricket bat and stabbing him in the chest, claiming she was acting in self-defence.

Depression

The former Royal aide was still depressed by the loss of her prestigious post when Mr Cressman died three years later, the Old Bailey heard.

She told the court she was still suffering from the "immense shock" of losing her Royal position at the time of the argument which led to his death last September.

Andrews broke down on her third day of giving evidence

However, Ms Andrews insisted she was not fired from the position in 1997, but was "made redundant".

She said her job of nine years as dresser and personal assistant to the Duchess of York had been "a big part" of her life which she struggled to put behind her.

In cross-examination, prosecutor Bruce Houlder, QC, asked: "You are not saying that it deeply depressed you for three-and-a-half-years? You had got over it."

The 34-year-old said: "No, I don't think I did. It was an intense job, 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

She told the court she had applied for "hundreds and hundreds" of jobs before she went to work for Knightsbridge jewellers Theo Fennell where she is "blissfully happy".

Vicious arguments

Earlier, the jury heard she had been raped by Mr Cressman on the day before his death after she said she was leaving him.

She said the couple had rowed after Mr Cressman had refused to see a therapist despite admitting he needed help for sexual and commitment problems and his "black moods".

Ms Andrews has repeatedly denied she intended to murder her boyfriend, to whom she was "devoted".

She claims she was acting in self-defence following a series of vicious arguments between the pair.

She fled the scene in a panic, got into her car and "drove and drove and drove", the court heard.

She began sending a series of text messages to her friends proclaiming her innocence and was found days later in a car in Cornwall having taken an overdose of pain killers.