Ex killed heiress over other man

Ms Healey's body was found naked in her bedroom at home

The ex-fiancé of an heiress has told a court he killed her because he snapped when he realised she had slept with another man.

Richard Holtby, 38, broke down as he told Hull Crown Court he strangled Suzy Healey at her East Yorkshire home a week before they had planned to marry.

He said he felt terrible about her death but had never meant to kill her.

Mr Holtby denies murdering the daughter of Hygena Kitchens millionaire Malcolm Healey, but has admitted manslaughter.

Suicide bid

He told the jury he was in bed with Miss Healey on 21 August last year when she asked him to make love to her and said: "Make it better than Ehab did."

Crying, Holtby said: "I just snapped. I just completely snapped.

"I grabbed her round the throat and just screamed at her 'What do you want, what do you want from me, what do you want?'"

He said he was squeezing Miss Healey's throat as he screamed at her and she "just went limp".

I began to wonder whether the whole thing was just a complete lie from start to finish, the whole relationship Richard Holtby

He told the court he tried to bring her round on the bed but when he realised she was dead he went downstairs and grabbed a knife, car keys and mobile phone, intending to kill himself.

Mr Holtby said he went to a nearby bridleway to commit suicide but couldn't do it.

Asked by Malcom Swift QC, defending, if he would have done what he did if Miss Healey had not behaved the way she had, he said: "No."

Earlier, the court heard the pair had both been drinking and discussing their nine-month on-off relationship.

Mr Holtby told the court that Miss Healey, who suffered from bipolar disorder and was a heavy drinker, called him while drunk two days earlier and said she had had an affair with a man called Ehab, but later denied this, saying it was a joke.

He said Miss Healey also told him about texts she had received from an ex-boyfriend and a bouquet of roses from a secret admirer, leaving him bewildered.

"I began to wonder whether the whole thing was just a complete lie from start to finish, the whole relationship," he said.

'Tried for baby'

But he said he asked Miss Healey if she still loved him and she said that she did.

The court heard Mr Holtby and Miss Healey had once been engaged and planned to marry on her 40th birthday, which she had been celebrating on the day of her death.

While still together, they had repeatedly tried for a baby but were unsuccessful for which Mr Holtby said Miss Healey blamed him as she already had two teenage daughters.

The trial continues.