A husband accused of stabbing his wife to death called a GP emergency centre for help hours after allegedly killing her, a court heard.

Dewi Hughes, 38, told the call operator his wife, Anne, had been unconscious for two hours after slipping on oil spilt on the kitchen floor and banging her head.

Hughes, an alcoholic, denies murdering Anne, 55, at their home in Twyford Road, Coldean, Brighton, in May last year but has admitted manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility.

He is accused of stabbing her in the back with a kitchen knife and then trying to stitch up the wound with a needle and thread.

He is also accused of lying to cover up the killing by saying she had accidentally slipped on the floor and stabbed herself on a tin opener.

The prosecution allege it was not until hours later, after trying to clear up the blood and wash his clothes, that he tried to call a doctor.

Karen Laws, who works for Prime Care, a Hove-based company which takes out-of-hours calls for GPs, told the court she took a call from Hughes just after midnight on May 23 last year.

Hughes said: "My wife has dropped a great deal of oil on the floor and she has been unconscious for about two hours and she has not woken up."

Ms Laws told Hughes his wife needed an ambulance and she immediately called the emergency services.

Earlier, the jury at Lewes Crown Court heard James Turner QC, prosecuting, describe the unusual and sometimes violent relationship between the couple, who may have been together for up to 15 years.

He said Hughes and his wife were a "curious couple" and the police were not sure whether they were ever legally married.

Mr Turner said: "She was a timid person who came under his control. She was a simple, poorly educated lady taken advantage of and bullied by him in a campaign that ultimately led to her death."

He said there were frequent violent rows between the couple and she was seen at times with marks and bruises.

At 6am on May 22, 18 hours before the emergency services were alerted, she was heard screaming loudly in pain.

Mr Turner said: "That may have been the moment she was attacked and that resulted in her death."

When the ambulance crew arrived, they found Mrs Hughes lying dead in the bedroom. It is believed she had been killed in the kitchen, where there was evidence Hughes had tried to clean away traces of blood.

Her body was lying on an old mattress on the floor of the untidy bedroom.

He told police he had tried to stitch up the wound with needle and white thread.

A post-mortem revealed she had been stabbed once in the back and the fatal wound penetrated her heart. She had also been stabbed right through her arm.

Bin liners left by Hughes at the garden gate contained blood-stained clothing cut from her body.

After his arrest, Hughes was allowed to make a telephone call and rang his brother. The call was monitored and Hughes was heard to say: "I killed Anne. I was drunk. It was a mistake. Fifteen years down the drain."

The trial continues.