Dinner lady accused of murder was ‘terrified’

Tracey White, 42, said she was only trying to stop her husband Alan White, 49, beating her when she reached for a drawer in the kitchen.

She told a Sheffield Crown Court jury she was fumbling for a ladle or spoon as her husband pressed her against a breakfast bar by the throat.

“I just wanted to hit his head and distract him and make him stop,” she said.

White began sobbing in the witness box and said she had no idea what she took from the drawer until her husband moved away and she saw he had a cut to his stomach. She dropped the knife and dialled 999.

The couple had returned to their home in Bond Street, Rossington, near Doncaster, after enjoying drinks at a local club.

They had rowed earlier over a meal and, when they returned home that evening, argued again over turning the television off.

It sparked a row in which White said her husband began pulling her hair, punching and hitting her.

“I was trying to push him off against his chest and face,” she said. “I was terrified.”

When it stopped she went downstairs to the kitchen, but her husband followed her and pinned her against the breakfast bar.

She said she she did not mean to harm him or stab him.

“It had been a good night and I didn’t want it to be spoilt by an argument,” she said.

Prosecutor Bryan Cox QC earlier told the court the couple both had “short fuses” but their marriage of 24 years was generally happy.

Tracey White denies murder on December 18 last year. The trial continues.