A WOMAN accused of stabbing her husband in front of their ten-year-old daughter showed no clinical signs of psychiatric disease, a doctor told Teesside Crown Court yesterday.

Jayne Lovegreen 34, denies murdering her estranged husband, John, at his cottage on Baal Hill Farm, Wolsingham, County Durham, on July 6, last year.

Dr Nigel Callaghan told the jury he had been called in to give Mrs Lovegreen a clinical examination.

The defendant, who is 5ft 2in and weighs just over 8st, had some superficial injuries, he said.

Mrs Lovegreen, who the court heard had taken an overdose in 1999 following a row with her husband, told Dr Callaghan that she was being treated by her GP for depression and for the past three months had been prescribed an anti-depressant drug.

At the time of his examination, Dr Callaghan said he found Mrs Lovegreen, who he said was repeatedly retching, to be distressed, occasionally emotional, but not tearful.

He said that in his view "there were no clinical signs to indicate acute psychiatric disease" and he was of the opinion that she was fit to be interviewed.

At the opening of the hearing, prosecuting counsel Franz Muller told the court that the Lovegreens, who married in 1990, separated in April last year.

He said that after the marriage split, Mr Lovegreen, 34, began a relationship with the couple's long-time friend, Susan Burnett

"Mrs Lovegreen learned of the liaison, and she became angry when she found out that on July 5 her husband and daughter, also called Jayne, had spent the day at Gateshead MetroCentre with Miss Burnett and her ten-year-old son," said Mr Muller.

The court heard that the following day, while Mrs Love-green was speaking to her daughter on the phone, her husband intercepted the call and told her she was an unfit mother and he would not return their daughter after his weekend access.

After the call, Mrs Love-green left her part-time milking job in Ferryhill and collected a kitchen knife from the couple's former marital home, Greenfield Farm, at High Etherley, near Bishop Auckland.

"With the knife hidden in her boot, she drove to Baal Hill cottage where she stabbed her husband in front of their daughter," said Mr Muller.

"The attack was carried out in jealousy and anger. The defendant then left the deceased dying or dead and drove off."

Mrs Lovegreen was arrested near Carlisle.

It was later revealed that she had taken 16 paracetamol tablets and a similar number of other tablets after driving from Baal Hill Cottage. She was admitted to Bishop Auckland General Hospital, from where she was discharged on July 11.

Under cross examination by defence counsel Neil Davey, Dr Callaghan said at the time of his examination Mrs Lovegreen appeared to be "drifting in and out of a state of panic, anxiety, woe and loss".

The trial continues on Monday