A COMPANY boss killed his partner with a kitchen knife after they both grabbed for the weapon during a heated row about family problems and money, a jury heard.

John Butler, who ran Kettley’s Furniture Centre in Yeadon, said he feared Pauline Butler was about to stab him after launching "a tirade of abuse" and ordering him out of her flat.

Butler, 62, denies murdering Mrs Butler at her home in Cherry Lea Court, Rawdon, on the morning of April 14.

The estranged couple, who have three adult sons, had been living apart for about five weeks, Leeds Crown Court heard.

Butler raised the alarm at the family home in nearby Larkfield Road after the stabbing.

The couple's son, David Butler, kicked down the door to his mother's flat and found her body in the living room.

She had suffered multiple stab wounds, two of which would have proved fatal, the jury has heard.

Today, the trial heard Butler's police interviews in which he stated that he loved Mrs Butler, his partner of 40 years, and did not intend to kill or injure her.

He said she had picked up a knife previously when angry with him and he feared he was about to be stabbed.

This time, a large kitchen knife was on a table in the living room.

"It was a question of who got there first," Butler told the police.

He said he caught Mrs Butler on the neck and shoulder with the blade before tripping backwards over a coffee table and losing his balance.

She was pushing him and he went forward. The momentum "tippled" her on to her back and the knife went into her chest.

"I hit the deck and that is when I realised something had gone drastically wrong," Butler said.

"It was a blur, a mess. It was out-of-control."

Earlier, Butler's business partner, Steven Collop, said the two had worked together for 35 years.

Mr Collop, a funeral director with Kettley's Funeral Services, said they used to get on very well but Butler became preoccupied and hard to talk to.

The night before she died, Mrs Butler told Mr Collop she wanted a financial "settlement".

She asked him to draw up a list of all the properties jointly owned by the Butler and Collop families.

Mr Collop said Mrs Butler told him her partner wanted her back "for all the wrong reasons".

She did not want to be greedy about money and assured him she would not jeopardise family jobs at Kettley's.

The trial continues.