Daddy’s killed mummy, screamed soldier’s boy, 4

Ian Lowe, 25, serving with the 1st Battalion the Duke of Lancaster’s Regiment, attacked Leanne McNuff, 24, at her home after the pair endured a stormy on-off relationship, Manchester Crown Court was told.

The couple had shared a home in Mellor Street, Droylesden, Greater Manchester, but Miss McNuff had told Lowe to pack his bags on February 11, a month before she was killed, the court heard.

A week later he attacked Miss McNuff, “ragging” her by her hair and clothes, and calling her a prostitute.

Police were called and Lowe was charged with assault and was on bail when he killed Miss McNuff.

Lowe has pleaded guilty to manslaughter but denies murder.

He claims Miss McNuff attacked him with a knife and he killed her after “losing control” during the incident on March 11.

Neil Flewitt QC, prosecuting, told the jury: “It is the prosecution case that at about 7.40pm on Sunday 11th March, the defendant kicked in the front door of the house where Leanne McNuff was living and attacked her by stabbing her repeatedly to the upper body and by stamping on her face.

“Although Leanne McNuff was taken immediately to hospital, she was seriously injured and died later that night.”

Lowe, on leave from his army barracks in Catterick, North Yorkshire, had kicked in the door of the house they once shared and attacked his former partner with a knife in an incident that lasted just a minute and a half, the jury were told.

Miss McNuff’s brother Ryan and mother Margaret lived next door and, alerted by the noise and screams, found their loved one lying in a pool of blood on the landing of the house with multiple stab wounds.

Lowe fled the scene but was arrested later that night.

The trial continues.