A detective inspector wept as details of a knife attack which killed his teenage daughter were revealed in court.

Jim Torbet, of Sussex Police, heard how Rae Torbet was stabbed with such ferocity one of the knives bent almost 90 degrees after striking bone.

Her ex-boyfriend Dellwyn James, 31, of Chiltern Drive, Hastings, is accused of knifing the 19-year-old around 15 times in the neck and face at her flat in Bexhill. He denies murder.

Lewes Crown Court heard friends and family of Miss Torbet, who worked for HSBC bank in Hailsham, had been urging James to leave her alone after he bombarded her with telephone calls and text messages following their split.

Philip Katz QC, prosecuting, said: "The Crown say James went to her flat on March 27 this year having tricked a friend of hers to give him a key and stab her to death leaving her face down in her own flat with a knife sticking out of her neck."

The court heard that 11 days before the killing, James took an overdose of paracetamol and vodka and later spent some time at a mental health crisis unit called The Sanctuary.

On the day of her death, Miss Torbet had been working but went to her flat to change before meeting her new boyfriend, Kevin Brown.

The prosecution says James let himself in and after the attack ran to an ex-girlfriend's house while covered in blood and said he had been attacked by Miss Torbet and her family.

But Mr Katz said: "This was, the Crown say, a vicious attack, a murder with two knives on this young woman and that it was done quite deliberately and with the intent to kill."

A member of staff from HSBC called at Miss Torbet's flat when she failed to turn up for work on March 28 and found her body.

The bloodstained flat had been ransacked, the court heard, and with the body was a letter written by James.

He was arrested on suspicion of murder and when asked by police if he had killed Miss Torbet, replied that he "did not believe he had".

Pathologist Dr Vesna Djurovic told the court it was hard to tell exactly how many times Miss Torbet had been stabbed but in her opinion she had been stabbed around 15 times to the face and neck alone.

The court was shown the two knives used in the attack, one of which was bent almost 90 degrees.

The trial continues.