A mother-of-two hit alleged multiple killer Daniel Gonzalez with slippers as she tried to defend her husband from a knife attack, a court heard.

Christalla Constantinou refused to lock herself into a bedroom after Gonzalez broke into their home. She was not going to abandon her husband in a moment of crisis, the Old Bailey was told yesterday.

She and her husband, Koumis, 59, were in bed at their north London home when Gonzalez broke in at 7am. He was wielding "a big knife" and Mr Constantinou yelled to his wife to lock herself in the bedroom as the two men fought in the corridor. She said in a statement: "I got my slippers. I hit that man with the slippers."

The court was told that in the space of three days, Gonzalez had already knifed two men and two women to death, including Brighton and Hove Albion ticket seller Marie Harding in Southwick.

Gonzalez, 25, from Woking, Surrey, denies murder and claims he was suffering from voices in his head commanding him to kill which diminished his responsibility.

The trial continues.