A man accused of stabbing his ex-girlfriend to death has denied he attacked her in fury because he thought she was seeing another man.

Carl Truffas told Wolverhampton Crown Court that he grappled with his former partner Natalie James to get hold of a knife which, he claimed, she had been holding when he arrived at her home.

The jury had earlier heard she was fatally wounded after Truffas had returned to her flat in Kings Road, Rushall, Walsall. He had previously broken in while she was out and smashed up a TV.

Truffas yesterday told the jury he had gone back to talk to Miss James about getting access to their newborn son and about the damage.

But in cross-examination Miss Deborah Gould, prosecuting, said: “The reality is that you just lost it that night. You were furious at the idea that she may have been seeing another man.”

Miss Gould went on: “You were so furious you smashed up her home. Then in anger you went round and attacked her.”

Truffas replied: “No. No I tried to help her.”

The 33-year-old, of Kendall Court, Walsall Wood, told the jury he fought with Miss James, 23, for the knife in self defence, but said he did not see how she came by her injuries on August 7 last year.

Miss Gould put to Truffas that a text intended for a male friend and accidentally sent to him by Miss James hours before the incident on August 7 was the trigger for him going to her flat.

But Truffas denied this and said: “I wanted to talk to her to sort things out.”

Miss James had given birth to their son six weeks before her death. She also had a seven-year-old son from a previous relationship.

Truffas has admitted causing criminal damage, but denies murder.

The trial continues.