'Battered wife' killed husband

A battered wife stabbed her husband to death as he tried to strangle her at their home in south London, a court has been told.

Patricia Lawrence, 25, told police she was acting in self defence when she stabbed her 24-year-old husband Peter on 16 March 2002.

The couple, who came from Northern Ireland, had been living with Mrs Lawrence's young son and the couple's own child in a small hotel room in Streatham, south London.

The Old Bailey was told on Wednesday Mrs Lawrence killed her husband with a single stab which went through his diaphragm, stomach, spleen and major blood vessels.

He died from massive internal bleeding.

'She claimed he raped her'

Prosecutor Wendy Joseph QC, told the jury: "From the very first words she spoke after the stabbing, she has repeated the claim that she only did it because Peter Lawrence was strangling her and she did it only in self defence.

"She was able to describe to the police and others in great detail that for four years she had been a battered wife, punched and strangled and, she claimed, he raped her."

Miss Joseph advised the jury that if the claim was true, Mrs Lawrence would have been acting in self defence and was not guilty of murder.

But if she had been seeking revenge, lost her temper, or knowingly used more force than necessary to defend herself, she would not have been acting in self defence.

Mrs Lawrence denies murder.

The trial continues.