Eileen Barrott: Killer husband sought monastery refuge, court told

Mrs Barrott had recently told her husband she was leaving him, the court heard

A jealous and controlling husband killed his wife at their Leeds home before fleeing to Scotland to seek refuge in a monastery, a court heard.

Mark Barrott is accused of murdering Eileen Barrott, 50, at their house in Naburn Fold, Whinmoor, last August.

He has admitted manslaughter but denies murder on the grounds of diminished responsibility due to mental illness.

Leeds Crown Court heard he struck his wife twice with a hammer before strangling her.

He then went on the run, abandoning his car in Leeds on 15 August before taking a taxi to the railway station, then catching a train to northern Scotland.

Craig Hassall, prosecuting, told the court Mrs Barrott, who worked as a nurse at St James's Hospital in Leeds, had recently told her husband their marriage was over, but they had reconciled about 10 days before her death.

He said the couple had shared their home with their two children until they moved out shortly before Mrs Barrott's death.

Mr Barrott was arrested by police at Pluscarden Abbey, a Catholic Benedictine monastery around six miles from Elgin in Scotland

The court heard once Mr Barrott, 54, reached the Scottish border, he sent identical text messages to a childhood friend and his therapist, which urged them to get emergency services to his home address.

Mr Barrott wrote: "I instinctively hit her with a hammer when she pushed me into the bedroom door, which I was trying to fix."

He said he had put a rope around his wife's neck that he had planned on using on himself and described her as "badly hurt" but said he didn't want her to die.

Mr Hassall said the text was sent more than three hours after he had fled, "leaving Eileen already dead, face down on the sofa in the living room".

The prosecutor said: "He had not put rope around her throat. No rope was recovered, there were no signs that the defendant had used anything else but his hands to strangle her."

Mr Barrott made his way to Pluscarden Abbey in Elgin, Scotland, giving a false name and address to the monks. He was arrested by Police Scotland on 19 August.

The case is due to resume on Tuesday morning.