A fugitive prisoner who allegedly shot at police tried to kill himself after he caught his fiance in bed with someone else, a court heard.

Christopher Maitland of Seamill Park Crescent, Worthing, said he swallowed up to 60 painkillers because at the time their relationship was one of the most positive things in his life.

He said he discovered fiance Karen Harris had slept with someone else after almost walking in on her.

Maitland said: "I felt everything we had built up together over 18 months had been destroyed in one fell swoop."

Miss Harris had earlier told a jury at Hove Crown Court she went on to split with Maitland because she preferred women.

Maitland, 21, said yesterday: "She said she preferred to go out with females and did not want a man in her life."

He said he had seriously considered killing himself after his mother told him she was moving to Somerset with his sister and he would not be going with them.

He also told the court he had been abused as a child after his parents divorced when he was about seven.

Maitland said: "My mother had quite a few boyfriends after that, including a friend of my half-brother. We went to a holiday camp in Norfolk and stayed in a caravan.

"He gave me some cider and I felt dizzy and sick so my mum asked him to take me back to the caravan. I got undressed and he got in behind me and put his hand in my pants. He told me to be quiet and everything would be okay. I was very scared."

Maitland told the jury the same man had been on a picnic with him, his mother and friends in woods near Worthing when he was 13.

He said one had a gun with him and was taking pot shots at beer cans they had been drinking from.

He said a week later he had just had a bath when he was made to pose for a photograph with the gun pointed at his genitals.

Maitland began giving evidence as the trial entered its third week.

The court had earlier heard how he was shot by police marksman PC Ian Potter after he allegedly fired at officers. He was perched on scaffolding over the east door of St Peter's Church, Brighton, on Easter Saturday last year.

He had failed to return to prison after being released on licence on March 25 for two days to attend his step-sister's funeral.

Maitland's gun was later found to be a Walther CP88 .177 calibre air pistol which uses gas cartridges to fire pellets.

He has admitted possessing an offensive weapon but denies two charges of having the gun to resist arrest and using it to resist arrest on April 18 last year.

The trial continues.