A WOMAN who is accused of killing the man she lived with did so in self-defence, a jury has been told.

Winter Swan-Miller is on trial at Winchester Crown Court charged with the murder of Stuart Maxwell Crocker, 62, who was found dead at The Signals, in New Street, Andover, on June 28, last year.

Police investigations found that veteran Mr Crocker might have been killed in the early hours of June 23, but was only discovered five days later when a neighbour phoned 999 concerned for his welfare.

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On Thursday, May 16, prosecutor Nicola Shannon KC, opening the case, said that Mr Crocker suffered 26 wounds to his body, “but the fatal wound was one to his neck and they had been caused by a sharp blade". 

Defence Gurdeep Garcha KC told the jury on Wednesday, May 22 that, while the fact that Swan-Miller killed Mr Crocker is not being disputed, 'the killing was only done in self-defence'.

He said: “It is disputed that Ms Swan-Miller and Mr Crocker were in any sense a couple or in a relationship. It is Ms Swan-Miller’s case that Mr Crocker wished for a relationship between them, but she was not interested in him.

“It is her case that during the period she lived at his address, he was abusive to her, both physically and sexually. It is her case that he was controlling to her, physically and also in a financial sense.”

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Mr Garcha said that on the morning that Mr Crocker died, he had sexually assaulted Swan-Miller and, during the act, she had grabbed a knife and killed him.

He also argued that Swan-Miller had used Mr Crocker’s bank card with permission and that she would transfer money from her account to his to use.

The defence told the jury that they would also hear evidence from psychiatric experts, one called by the defence and the other by the prosecution.

The trial continues.