A husband who stabbed his wife to death in front of their young children told police he did not mean to kill her.

Hajrudin Hasanovic, 33, is on trial at Lewes Crown Court accused of murdering his estranged wife Cassandra, 24, last summer.

Mrs Hasanovic was repeatedly stabbed with a kitchen knife in Normanton Avenue, Bognor, on July 29.

She was dragged from a car and attacked in the street as she and the children were about to be driven to a women's refuge by her mother.

The prosecution says Serbian-born Hasanovic killed her after he lost a custody battle and was informed he would be deported.

The jury was told that in an interview with detectives after the killing, Hasanovic denied he wanted to kill his wife.

He said: "I didn't mean to kill her. I did it but I didn't plan to kill her.

"I obviously hated her so much for what she has done to me. She destroyed my life completely.

"I hated her but I didn't meant to kill her."

Hasanovic, of Dover, Kent, who denies murder, claimed he bought the nine-inch kitchen knife and kept it in his car to clean his dentures and had not been carrying it to attack his wife.

He admitted he was angry with her but claimed he had no intention of attacking her.

He said: "Afterwards I was scared about what I did. I didn't know I killed her. I saw lots of blood."

The court has been told Hasanovic was staying with a friend in Portsmouth at the time, where police found a letter written by him to his sons. In the note he told the children: "I am missing you so much. You are my life and soul and everything.

"Life without you is not life. It is painful and daddy cannot take it any more. My sons, I love you."

He asks the boys to be good, look after each other, work hard at school and visit Serbia each year. He ends: "Boys take care and remember I love you forever."

Hasanovic told the police he wrote the letter because he intended to return to Serbia and denied he was planning to kill their mother.

Mrs Hasanovic ended the couple’s five-year relationship in May 2007 after complaining to police she had been attacked by her husband. Days later she fled to Australia where she had been brought up and still had relatives.

Her family said that Hasanovic rang hundreds of times to try to talk to her and repeatedly threatened to kill her.

In February last year Mrs Hasanovic felt forced to return to the UK to secure legal custody of the children.

She was staying with her mother in Nyewood Lane, Bognor, when she was killed.

The trial continues.