An Ealing man allegedly cried "mummy, mummy I didn't mean to do it" when his partner's body was discovered after he battered her with an iron and stabbed her, a court heard.

Alex Springer said the words after the dead body of Ravinder Jutla was discovered in his bedroom four days after the attack, jurors were told.

The 50-year-old claims he "lost it" before hitting the 48-year-old with the domestic appliance on November 29 last year.

The Old Bailey heard on Monday (May 16) he then fetched a knife from the kitchen before returning to the bedroom they shared in his mum's house in Eaton Rise, Ealing, and stabbed her twice.

'Abnormality of mental function'

Mr Springer, unemployed, told how he then pulled a duvet up over his victim and put a pillow over her head to hide her face.

He admits killing the victim but denies murder on the grounds he was suffering from an abnormality of mental function at the time.

The victim's body lay undiscovered until December 2, four days after the attack.

Then when the police arrived the court heard that Mr Springer said "Mummy, mummy I didn't mean to hurt her".

Jurors heard Mr Springer was cooking a Sunday roast when the victim returned home from a day out with her sister and told him she wished she had not come back.

'I just lost it'

Mr Springer, who spent his days at home in his dressing gown following his job loss as a warehouseman in February 2015, said: "I don't know what came over me. I just lost it when she said those words, 'I wish I had not come home'.

"My mind just went blank. I can't explain it. Just blank".

The court heard how the Sikh parents of Ms Jutla, who worked for a travel agency and was saving up to leave her partner, did not approve of the relationship.

Mr Springer, who said his life went downhill after his daughter fell ill in 2012, claimed everything was normal when the victim left to go bowling on the morning of her alleged murder.

He added: "We were on good terms before she left for bowling, she gave me a kiss.

"The telly was on. I was looking in that direction but I weren't taking in what was going on.

"It's what I did sometimes. I would be looking at something but it's not something I'm taking in.

"She just asked me if I had got the oven on. I said I put it on already and I had put the chicken in already.

"She looked at me and said, 'what's wrong with you, why do you look so upset?'

"I said I wasn't upset. She just said, 'I wish I never came home'.

"I just remember getting up and grabbing her. I picked up an iron and started hitting her with the iron.

"She fell to the floor. I thought she was dead. I just went to the kitchen. I wanted to kill myself. "

'I stabbed her'

He continued: "I grabbed a knife, picked it up and started to take it back to the bedroom. I planned to kill myself."

"Rav was standing up by the bedroom door."

Springer said she pleaded with him to think of his daughter, but he told her 'it's too late' before stabbing her.

Mr Springer added: "I remember putting the cover over her, the duvet, then putting the pillow over her head."

Jurors also heard how he had made three separate suicide attempts on the day of the murder and had left the house the next day with the intention of jumping in front of a train.

The victim's body lay undiscovered until Wednesday 2 December when his daughter's partner arrived with police.

Mr Springer added: "I felt kind of relieved".

The trial continues.