A father has claimed he did not mean to kill his estranged wife when he stabbed her at least nine times at a graveyard.

David Norris insisted he “lost it” in the heat of the moment as he and Dionne had “a massive argument”.

He wept as he told a jury: “I grabbed a knife and stabbed her. I have done that, and I know I have done wrong.

“I wouldn’t just attack her for nothing. I am not like that. I am not that sort of man.”

The prosecution at Maidstone Crown Court alleged he was a controlling husband who inflicted the wounds after telling his wife: “I’m sorry, Dionne, if I can’t have you no one can.”

Prosecutor Eloise Marshall said the 51-year-old window cleaner only stopped when she “played dead” and a farmer heard her screams and disturbed him.

Mrs Norris, 45, was taken to a London hospital and treated for multiple stab wounds.

Norris, of Morgan Drive, Greenhithe, denies attempted murder.

"I just wanted to say goodbye to my children. I would hand myself in and I would be going to prison. I met them and I said: ‘I have stabbed mum'..." - David Norris

The couple had been together for 30 years and married for 27 years. They had two boys.

Mrs Norris claimed her husband treated her “like dirt” and she finally decided to leave him in August last year.

They agreed to meet on October 11 to visit her mother’s grave at Blue Bell Hill and then his grandmother’s at St Nicholas Church in Southfleet.

Mrs Norris told how they were at the grave at the church when he grabbed her around the neck and then lunged at her with the knife.

Questioned by Miss Marshall, Norris denied he could not bear it that he could no longer control his wife.

He claimed he had the knife in the boot of his car for work and denied it had been used for cutting meat at home.

“I didn’t take it to stab her with it,” he said. “She knew I was getting the knife to cut the flowers.

“We had an argument. She was screaming in my face like she does. It is the way she is. She tells lies to cover her own back.

“There was a massive argument. I lost it and I am ashamed of myself. I lost control. I am not a violent person.

“She was shouting at me. She was telling me to die, calling me a grey-haired old b-----. I called her a tart because of what she was doing.”

Miss Marshall suggested he only had one intention and that was to kill his wife.

Norris replied: “Why would I do that? I lost it for once in my whole life. It was a spur of the moment thing. How can I want to kill my wife?

“Do you really think I would want to kill her at my nan’s grave? I realised if I carried on I would kill my wife - and I didn’t want to kill my wife.”

Norris said he left knowing the farmer would call an ambulance.

“I just wanted to say goodbye to my children,” he continued. “I would hand myself in and I would be going to prison.

“I met them and I said: ‘I have stabbed mum.’ One said: ‘You shouldn’t have done it but she was playing with your emotions.’

“She had been so horrible, but she didn’t deserve that. They cuddled me and they cried.”

The jury is expected to retire to consider the verdict today.