A JURY has been told to ignore emotion when deciding if a jilted husband is guilty of murder or manslaughter.

The Recorder of Middlesbrough, Judge Peter Fox, QC, also warned the six men and six women to cast aside moral judgement in the case of Michael Luke.

Luke, 45, is accused of murdering his wife, Johanna, at their County Durham home following the discovery of her affair last summer.

The landscape gardener admits bludgeoning the 37-year-old to death, but denies murder, and is pleading guilty to manslaughter on the grounds of provocation.

Judge Fox began his summing up on the ninth day of the trial yesterday by telling the jury: "Emotions have run high in this case and it is perfectly understandable that they have.

"But you should consider this case without emotion on your part."

Judge Fox said the case hinged on whether Luke was provoked so much by his wife in the time before her death on August 28 that he temporarily and suddenly lost self-control.

Mother-of-two Johanna, an accounts clerk, was hit at least four times with a 4lb metal paving hammer after confessing to her husband that she was having an affair with paramedic Mark Cole.

Luke claims he was also the victim of repeated physical attacks and had been taunted about his sexual prowess in the moments before the attack.

He alleges he cannot remember striking his wife at their home in Priory Gardens, Willington, and a psychiatrist called by the defence said the memory loss was a condition known as dissociate amnesia.

But Teesside Crown Court has heard Luke was able to call the emergency services, give his name, address and postcode, and telephone his family to tell them what he had done.

The jury is expected to be sent out to consider its verdict today and the trial continues.