A WOMAN stabbed her boyfriend in the heart then took his bank card from his body while her fingers were still wet with his blood, a jury heard.

Alexia Heckles, 35, had consumed drugs and alcohol when she killed Scott Dunne with a large kitchen knife at the flat they shared in Rosemary Gardens, Allerton, Bradford, it is alleged.

She pleads not guilty to murdering Mr Dunne, 41, shortly after midnight on January 18.

Prosecutor Andrew Kershaw told Bradford Crown Court today that Heckles and Mr Dunne began a relationship in around 2011 and had a child together last year.

Both suffered from problems associated with substance and alcohol abuse.

The flat had thin walls and neighbours became used to hearing Heckles' "loud angry voice for hour after hour," the jury was told.

On the evening before Mr Dunne's death, the couple were heard arguing.

Neighbours said Heckles was shouting and it sounded as if furniture was being tipped over and thrown around.

It went quiet for ten minutes and then Heckles was seen outside, screaming and with her hands covered in blood, like she was wearing red gloves.

It is alleged she had drunk alcohol on top of taking cocaine, morphine or heroin, Diazepam and cannabis.

Mr Kershaw said Heckles stabbed Mr Dunne with a kitchen knife with a 19cm blade.

"She held it firmly and she used severe force so that it cut completely through one rib, a part of his lung and through the left ventricle of his heart, causing a fatal wound almost as long as the blade of the the knife.

"She then removed the knife which would also have needed a severe amount of force," Mr Kershaw said.

Either then, or before the emergency services arrived, she took Mr Dunne's wallet from his jeans pocket, removed his bank debit card while her fingers were wet with his blood, and hid it in her bra, it is alleged.

When the police arrived, Heckles struggled with officers and was handcuffed.

At Trafalgar House Police Station, she was "aggressive and hysterical; her breath smelt of intoxicants and her eyes were glazed," Mr Kershaw said.

She was seen by a nurse and kept under constant supervision.

Heckles said from her police cell: "One minute we were arguing, the next minute he was bleeding. Then I was holding him, shouting 'Scott, Scott.' Then I ran out and shouted for help."

When interviewed by the police, she said Mr Dunne had pushed her in the living room, marking her knees. He then came into the bedroom looking angry, with two knives.

She said she was acting in self defence and the wounding was an accident.

Pathologist, Dr Kirsten Hope, said Mr Dunne died from blood loss after the knife blade pierced his heart with severe downward force.

"It was basically a purposeful action that has inflicted this injury," she said.

Mr Dunne had signs of alcoholic liver disease. Multiple scars on his chest could have been the result of a history of self-harm, the jury was told.

The trial continues.