A former SAS soldier accused of murdering his terminally-ill son "sacrificed his own life" by killing the boy to save the ten-year-old from further suffering, a court heard.

Andrew Wragg "cracked" on July 24 last year and smothered Jacob, who had the degenerative disease Hunter Syndrome, with a pillow, Lewes Crown Court was told.

The 38-year-old denies murdering his son at the family home in Henty Close, Worthing, but admits manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility, claiming he was suffering an abnormality of the mind.

The prosecution claim it was a "selfish act done in drink" because he could not cope with the boy.

Wragg's defence counsel Michael Sayers QC yesterday said he was prepared to "sacrifice his own life to save his son ... He's prepared to sacrifice himself completely and that's described as selfish?"

He told the eight-man four-woman jury that the defendant stood to lose his £80,000 job as a bodyguard in Iraq and the opportunity to resolve his financial problems, his home, his liberty, and the chance to bring up his healthy other son George, by carrying out the killing.

The barrister said: "Some portents of evil has sought to be raised around this man's head. We say that is simply not right. Whatever happened, happened out of compassion."

The trial continues.