Councillor laughed as he stabbed wife - court

Darren Brown is standing trial at Cardiff Crown Court, accused of attempted murder

A former councillor laughed as he tried to stab his wife to death, a court has heard.

Corrine Brown told Cardiff Crown Court her husband Darren attacked her in the bedroom of their Bridgend home after a row about the breakdown of their relationship in July 2023.

Ms Brown said she locked herself in the bathroom as her husband broke through the door and tried to put the knife in her hand, telling her "do it to me, we'll go together".

Mr Brown, 35, of Wildmill, Bridgend, denies attempted murder but admits grievous bodily harm with intent after stabbing Ms Brown three times.

The jury watched the second of two police interviews with Ms Brown following the attack.

She told detectives she was left with a deep wound to her hand as she tried to grab the knife and described her husband as "a psychopath".

She told officers he said: "I'm going to finish you off.

"The voice, it was weird. He said 'we can go together'. It was not really aggressive - he had that anger but not violent aggression."

Former town councillor Darren Brown is accused of attempting to stab his wife to death

Ms Brown told police she did not want to take the knife from him.

"I told him I didn't want to hurt him, even though what he did hurt me," she said.

She said she gripped the knife - which sliced her hands - and when she turned towards the toilet to try to get up she felt a stabbing sensation in her back.

The court heard the weekend before the attack Ms Brown went to Southend-on-Sea to meet a man she had been messaging on social media.

The couple had been married for 16 years and Ms Brown said they had been a "happy couple, we were so strong".

She said their relationship began to deteriorate after Mr Brown became a town councillor, and that the spark in their marriage had gone.

Mr Brown was an independent council member for Morfa on Bridgend town council until he resigned in September 2023.

"He'd say 'I've got to do council work', he'd make excuses, he was constantly on his phone."

Kevin Seal, defending, asked: "This was not the Darren you had known for over 16 years?"

Ms Brown replied: "Not at all."

Mr Brown is on trial at Cardiff Crown Court

Mr Seal told the court the three stab wounds "were not life threatening injuries."

"But I'm still being treated for them now," said Ms Brown.

"I begged him stop. I thought I was going to die. Everything was a blur. He was laughing. There was a smirk on his face."

Prof Jason Payne-James, a consultant forensic physician and an expert in knife injuries, told the court Ms Brown was stabbed in the back and shoulder and each wound was about 2.5cm long.

When asked to estimate the depth of the wound, he said: "It must have gone at least three to four centimetres."

A wound to her lower back led to the collapse of her left lung and she was in hospital for five days.

Prof Payne-James was asked by James Wilson, prosecuting, if it was possible to estimate how deep that stab wounds was.

"A wound only needs to penetrate the inner surface of the chest wall to cause the lung to collapse - it must have gone at least three to four centimetres."

He added that it was not possible to say how deep the other two wounds were.

The case continues.