Murder trial told of friend’s suicide bids

Alleged murder victim Barry Evans, who bled to death in his friend’s Telford flat, had previously tried to commit suicide by setting himself on fire and taking an overdose of drink and drugs, a court heard.

Defendant Wendy Walters, who claimed he had stabbed himself in front of her, said he had recently become religious and had wanted to be with God. Walters, 43, of Bembridge, Brookside, denies murdering Mr Evans, 45, on July 7 last year.

The Birmingham Crown Court jury has heard Mr Evans, an ex-police cadet, of Hurleybrook Way, Leegomery, Telford, was a heavy drinker and drug abuser.

The prosecution claims Walters, who also has a history of drink and drug abuse, stabbed Mr Evans eight times when they had a row.

She dialled 999 as he lay in a pool of blood on the living room floor but paramedics were unable to save him.

The jury yesterday heard transcripts of interviews Walters gave to police in the two days after Mr Evans’s death.

Walters told them she cared for his burns after he set himself on fire that Easter and also gave him mouth-to-mouth resuscitation, probably saving his life, when he took an overdose two weeks before his death.

On July 7, Walters said, she arrived home drunk, put her shopping by the fridge and went into the living room to see Mr Evans on the settee, dripping blood, with a knife in his hand.

She said she showed him her new mobile phone in a bid to distract him but he knocked it against the wall.

“I was scared he was going to kill me. His idea was for both of us to die together,” she said.

Walters told police she tried to grab the knife but he was too strong for her and started stabbing himself.

She said he then went into the kitchen, washed the knife, put it in a drawer and returned to the living room where he collapsed.

Walters told police Mr Evans had been off hard drugs for eight months after 25 years of drug abuse and had spoken of suicide on several occasions.

“Since he has been off drugs he reads a lot from the Bible. He said we would never be clean or saved until we were with God.”

She added that Mr Evans was her “best friend” and had been living with her for eight weeks but they would have been unable to take the relationship further as her husband was shortly due to come out of prison.

The trial continues.