Knifeman thought wife had boyfriend

Alfredo Merigo, 43, stabbed his wife Linda more than 100 times with a steak knife after turning their two-year-old son Luca’s pushchair around so the child couldn’t see what was happening.

Josephine Davies, a cook at the Grimsby care home where Merigo worked, said he confided in her that he thought his 40-year-old wife had another man.

She told a Sheffield Crown Court jury: “He said in the past she had stopped him seeing the little boy and it broke his heart.”

Christine Kilshaw, a nurse at the care home, said Merigo told her he wanted a reconciliation with his wife but was suspicious that she had a boyfriend.

Mrs Kilshaw said: “Linda had told him he was just a friend but he went on to say he couldn’t bear the thought of Luca calling another man daddy.”

Brendan Newlove, a teenage boyfriend of Mrs Merigo, said that just two days before the tragedy he received a text from the deceased, saying her husband was parked outside her house in Driffield, East Yorkshire, and would not leave.

She texted: “Need your help, Alfie outside my house and won’t leave. He has really hurt me this time. I want him to leave.”

Mrs Merigo’s mother Irene Bradley said her daughter had left Merigo when he became angry after she announced she was pregnant with Luca. After the couple split, Mrs Merigo began renting a house in Driffield.

The court heard after Merigo was arrested two further knives, two multi-tools and a hammer were found in his car.

Prosecutor Mark Bury told the jury: “The Crown say he had those knives in that car that day because he intended to kill Linda Merigo.”

Merigo, of Weelsby Street, Grimsby, admits the manslaughter of his wife on the grounds of provocation but denies her murder on September 1 last year.

The hearing continues.