A wife has told how she feared she was dying as her husband repeatedly stabbed her after they rowed about him allegedly raping a woman two weeks earlier.

Shannon Thompson said Michael Barnard stabbed her up to 10 times with a large kitchen knife at their chalet caravan in Hextable, near Swanley.

The 21-year-old suffered multiple wounds to her chest and stomach, damaging her lungs, liver and bowels. She also had defensive wounds to her hands and arms.

Prosecutor Christopher May said she was “extremely fortunate to survive”.

Shannon said she pleaded with Barnard, 25, to stop but he told her: “'No, you've got to die.”

"Mike didn't look like himself,” she told police. “It was like there were no feelings. It was just like it wasn't him, like he just didn't care. I was screaming at him.”

Barnard, denies attempted murder, an alternative charge of causing grievous bodily harm with intent and rape.

A jury at Maidstone Crown Court was told Barnard raped the other woman at Valley Park Caravan Site in Lower Road while his wife was sleeping off the effects of drink and “doing balloons” of nitrous oxide, also known as laughing gas.

The victim and others had been to Bluewater shopping centre drinking cocktails before having more alcohol and the gas at the caravan.

After Shannon was sick and went to bed, Barnard was left alone with the alleged victim.

He told her he loved her and then put his hand down her trousers. He also exposed himself, said Mr May.

Barnard tried to kiss her and touch her. “He said he was f----- up in the head and didn’t want to be married,” said Mr May. “He moved closer to her. She told him not to. He kept trying to kiss her.”

She went to sleep still wearing her clothes, but Barnard forced himself on her, it was alleged. Barnard claims she consented.

Shannon was inclined to believe he had not raped the woman but on January 11 they rowed about him cheating on her.

She went to sleep on a sofa and was woken up by the sound of Barnard on the phone to his father, who also lived on the caravan site.

Barnard then came out of the bedroom with a kitchen knife and stabbed her.

He ended up with a wound to his chest, thought to be self-inflicted, said the prosecutor.

"He said 'No, you've got to die'. I was just thinking I was going to die, that I was dead" - Shannon Thompson in evidence

Shannon told police she had written a letter the evening before she was stabbed saying she felt he would “torture her forever” about cheating.

She said the attack happened at 7am after Barnard was on the phone to his father “talking silly”.

He handed the phone to her and she then felt the knife strike her stomach.

"After he stabbed me I dropped to the floor,” she said. “His dad was still on the phone and I was screaming: 'He's got a knife'.

"I was on my back on the floor and Mike was literally on top of me and was just stabbing me. He was on his knees and leant over me.

"I remember him trying to move my arms away and I was just screaming. He didn't say anything apart from when I said: 'Stop. I've got to call my dad'.

"He said 'No, you've got to die'. I was just thinking I was going to die, that I was dead."

He stopped when his parents and an uncle arrived at the caravan.

Her eyes were rolling, she said. She could hear her father-in-law shouting to his son “What have you done?”

"I was opening and closing my eyes,” she continued. “They were screaming at him. His mum said 'What have you done?' and I said 'He has killed me. I'm dying'.

Shannon said from the witness box Barnard was getting paranoid about threats to his family and was hearing gunshots.

She kept a knife under her bed because she was worried about him. She said he had never laid a finger on her previously.

Asked if she was standing by him, she paused and replied: “I wish him all the best.”

The trial continues.