A father-of-two on trial accused of helping his wife to kill herself told a jury today he had no idea she was going to jump off a bridge when they set off on a walk together.

David Stephenson, 49, of Shipley, told a court he was "stunned" when he realised his wife Linda had jumped from a 100ft disused railway viaduct.

A jury at Doncaster Crown Court has heard how Mrs Stephenson, 48, committed suicide in June last year after her mental health deteriorated rapidly over the previous few months.

The court has heard she continuously begged her husband and her eldest son Matthew, 21, to kill her, often waking Stephenson up in the middle of the night to harangue him about it.

She even suggested her son should drive the whole family off a cliff.

Stephenson, of Mires Beck Close, Windhill, told the jury he was shocked when his wife jumped from the viaduct across the River Don, in South Yorkshire, close to the village of Sprotbrough.

He said his wife seemed much calmer than normal as they set off to drive 40 miles from their home to the River Don for a walk. They had walked about a mile from The Boat Inn pub when the path went up on to the viaduct.

Stephenson said he stopped because his knee hurt when his wife went a little way ahead.

When he could not find her, he eventually realised she had jumped.

Stephenson was asked by Peter Kelson QC, defending: "Did you know Linda had it in mind to commit suicide?" "No," he replied. Mr Kelson went on: "Did you want her to commit suicide?" Stephenson said: "I certainly did not."

The defendant was asked at length about his wife's deteriorating mental health.

He said Mrs Stephenson had become increasingly paranoid about a move from their old home in South Kirkby, near Pontefract, to Shipley.

Last April, Mrs Stephenson took an overdose of paracetamol and he said her mental state got worse after this incident.

He told the court how things deteriorated further on the weekend before she died.

Stephenson said: "All she wanted me to do was to kill her. The weekend was particularly bad. It was every minute kill me, kill me, kill me, kill me."

But he said he was not concerned when they set off for their walk by the river on the day Mrs Stephenson died.

"I thought that it was good," he told the jury. "She wanted to do something normal."

Stephenson denies one charge of aiding, abetting, counselling or procuring the suicide of his wife.

The trial continues.