A DISTRAUGHT husband accused of murdering his wife told his brother, "I love her", minutes after the killing, a court heard yesterday.

Stephen Luke said his brother Michael, 45, had tears in his eyes as he said: "I love her, I did not mean to do it. Please save her. Don't let her die."

Mr Luke told Teesside Crown Court he arrived at the couple's home to find the defendant smoking a cigarette outside and his wife Johanna bleeding heavily in the living room.

The couple's ten-year-old son Kieran was crying on the stairs and shouting: "Daddy, you're going to prison."

Giving evidence, his brother said: "Michael replied, 'I know I am son, I know I am'.

"He (Michael) was anxious. He did not know what he was doing or where he was. He was saying he was sorry and how much he loved her.

"He appeared totally remorseful."

Mr Luke said he had gone to the house, in Priory Gardens, Willington, County Durham, with his other brother, Jeffrey, and Jeffrey's partner, Susan Clough.

Mrs Clough, a nurse, also giving evidence yesterday, said Johanna, a 37-year-old accounts clerk, was still alive when they arrived.

She said the mother-of-two had been clutching her car keys in one hand and her handbag in the other.

The nurse said: "Michael said, 'Please go in and save her'. "He was distraught.

"She was still breathing, it was very laboured.

"She was not in a very good position on the settee. I asked if someone had called an ambulance.

"I thought if I could move her she could breath more easily.

"I moved her down the settee.

"She had her keys and handbag in her hands. A police officer came.

"At that point, she was still breathing but it had deterioated since a few minutes earlier."

Mrs Clough said about three weeks before her death Johanna had told her the marriage had broken down.

She told the jury: "Johanna said she had tried to make a go of it but she felt that there was nothing left."

Luke admits killing his wife but denies murder.

The trial continues.