Wendy Mann murder trial: Lover tells court of knife attack

Leroy Sterling, aged 63, is alleged to have attacked love rival Trevor Tyndale before strangling the mother of his children six weeks later at her flat in West Bromwich.

Wolverhampton Crown Court heard Mr Tyndale, 53, had started a relationship with Miss Mann, 26, in around June 2015, despite being married. She and Sterling had split a year earlier and had three children together.

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Giving evidence on the second day of the murder trial, Mr Tyndale told the jury he had bumped into Sterling on July 11 and was invited back to his home in Guns Lane.

He said Sterling asked him about Miss Mann and whether they were in a relationship but after around an hour at his house he was suddenly attacked.

Mr Tyndale told the court: "We were having a drink and having a smoke.

"All of a sudden it felt as if something had collapsed on the back of my head, like someone had hit me with a piece of pipe or a log.

"I couldn't believe it was him who had hit me."

Mr Tyndale said Sterling held him down, grabbed a knife and plunged it into his neck.

He said: "He held me down and was trying to kill me by placing his hands around my neck. He put his hand up and took the knife down and stabbed me in the throat."

Despite suffering a fractured skull and bleeding heavily, he said he managed the fight off Sterling by grabbing hold of the knife and threatening to kill him if he didn't let him go.

Mr Andrew Fisher QC, defending, put it to Mr Tyndale that he was the aggressor and had gone to Sterling's house to confront him because he was unhappy Miss Mann had stopped contacting him, which he denied.

Six weeks after the alleged attack in August 2015, Miss Mann was found dead in her kitchen in Chapel Street, Black Lake. She had been strangled.

Sterling, who is alleged to have killed her in a jealous rage, denies murder and attempted murder.

The trial continues.