Stabbed man was 'Jekyll and Hyde'

Wendy Ellis said she suffered years of physical and mental abuse

A woman accused of stabbing her partner to death has told Caernarfon Crown Court he was a regular drinker with a "Jekyll and Hyde" character.

Wendy Ellis, 40, of Blaenau Ffestiniog, Gwynedd, denies murdering William McAuley, 38, at their home in April.

Giving evidence in her defence, she said the former soldier often attacked her for no reason after drinking.

The prosecution says there was "nothing defensive" about the stabbing, as she had stabbed Mr McAuley before.

Ms Ellis told the court Mr McAuley physically and mentally abused her.

She described how on one occasion she had two metal plates inserted in her jaw after it was broken in three places after her partner, who was drunk, hit her with a fireside poker and kicked her when she was on the floor.

She said Mr McAuley also used to call her offensive names and told her she was ugly.

Ms Ellis said she would hide bruises with make-up, while Mr McAuley, a labourer, had promised her he would change.

William McAuley had promised to change, Wendy Ellis told the court

The court has heard that friends described Mr McAuley as "gentle, meek and mild" when he was sober.

Ms Ellis told the court that she did not leave him at first because she loved him. She said that when the violence worsened, she regularly told him to leave the home, but he simply refused.

The court has heard Ms Ellis told police she feared for her life on the night Mr McAuley was fatally stabbed.

She said a drunken Mr McAuley had punched her in the face and pushed her. She said she ran to the kitchen, took hold of a knife used to peel potatoes and went into the parlour.

"He was standing in the parlour with a TV above his head and came towards me to try and hit me with the TV," she said in the statement.

Ms Ellis told police he missed, the TV set fell to the floor and he landed on her, while she held the knife.

But the prosecution claims the wound to Mr McAuley's chest was four-and-a-half inches deep, and was "entirely inconsistent" with the victim coming onto or falling onto the knife.

'Nothing defensive'

At the trial's opening, Winston Roddick QC, prosecuting, said the couple had a stormy and violent 15-year relationship and said Mr McCauley's death was "a murder waiting to happen".

He said Ms Ellis had previously hit Mr McAuley on the head with a poker and she had also struck him on the head with a guitar.

He claimed that in July 2005 Ms Ellis struck her partner a number of times, including to his back.

He said: "There was nothing defensive about the stabbing on that occasion and nothing defensive in the attack with the knife on 10 April this year."

He said Ms Ellis had not taken the opportunity to escape through an open back door on the night Mr McAuley was fatally stabbed.

The trial continues.