A wife told a jury how she had to fight for her life as her cheating husband tried to murder her by forcing her into a box of giant fireworks.

Margaret Donaldson, 57, described how her love cheat husband Bryan lured her into a disused cottage.

Donaldson, 56, from Ilkley, then grabbed her from behind and pushed her into the fire as he said: "No, but you will burn in hell."

Mrs Donaldson told the High Court in Forfar that she felt her husband pushing her head down into the fire and then pinning her on the ground.

She said he then leaned over her with a taper which he lit and then used to light the massive fireworks.

Mrs Donaldson said her husband had made her take out a £100,000 insurance policy days before she discovered he was having an affair with a 22-year-old woman.

She told the jury yesterday that he had also tried to get her to sign over her will to him just hours before he tried to murder her.

Mrs Donaldson said her husband had lured her into Rose Cottage on the Glendochart Caravan Park in Perthshire, Scotland, which they jointly owned, by asking her to help change a light fitting.

"My head was pushed down. I must have automatically put my hands out because I could see my head going towards the fire.

"I never felt a thing, but I could almost touch the hate in the room. In that instant I just knew what he intended. I knew he intended to kill me," she said.

"I called his name. I took one glance and he was just blank, just like in a trance. He was full of hate."

Mrs Donaldson said she had seen a "big box" of fireworks in the room.

"He tried his hardest to get my head in there. The smoke was getting bad and the fireworks started going off and he just scooted for the door, so I went for the other door."

The mother-of-three used a poker stand to eventually smash her way through a double-glazed window.

She had earlier told the court how her husband had urged her to stay longer with family in Yorkshire in January before the alleged murder bid on October 30, 2003.

When she returned the house "seemed different" and Donaldson convinced her to take out the life insurance policy which she did not want to do.

Later in the week she discovered her husband was having an affair with the 22-year-old - and they arrived together at the caravan park. She said Donaldson had asked if the woman could move into Rose Cottage, but she had refused and they split up for two weeks.

Donaldson, of Main Street, Menston, denies attempting to murder his wife.

The trial continues.