A BUSINESSMAN opened a beer and smoked a cigar after stabbing his estranged partner to death, a murder trial jury heard today.

John Butler, 62, washed the large kitchen knife he used to kill Pauline Butler in a sustained attack at her flat in Cherry Lea Court, Rawdon, on April 14, Leeds Crown Court heard.

Butler, of Larkfield Road, Rawdon, denies murdering Mrs Butler, saying he lost his self-control while reacting to “an unfolding and heated situation”.

At the start of the trial the jury of nine women and three men were told by Mr Justice Edis that the couple had run Kettley’s Furniture Centre in Yeadon that was featured on the BBC’s The Fixer series in 2012.

The judge told the panel that anyone familiar with the business should not hear the case.

He also precluded those who had watched or could remember the TV series.

“This case touches on the defendant and his family and his family life. Don’t watch them on the telly, watch them and judge them here,” he said.

Prosecutor Michelle Colborne QC said it was the Crown’s case that Butler lost his temper and stabbed and killed Mrs Butler, 61, in a sustained attack while visiting her at her flat.

The couple who had never married had been together 30 years and had three sons, Richard, David and Paul.

They had enjoyed a comfortable life in a large house but were living there mostly on their own by the beginning of March this year.

They had less and less in common, ate separately and watched television in different rooms, the jury was told.

Mrs Butler had been ill with cancer and said she felt unsupported by her partner and disengaged from him.

By April she had gone to live on her own at the flat in Cherry Lea Court but Butler was unwilling or unable to accept the situation and became frustrated and angry, Miss Colborne said.

There was an “uneasy peace” in the days before the killing but Mrs Butler repeatedly told her sons and the defendant that she had no intention of returning to him.

On the day of the killing Butler came back to the family home with blood on his face and holding an orange towel.

He told Richard: “You need to call the police. I think I have killed your mother.”

The jury heard how Richard and his girlfriend Louise ran to the flat, picked up by another son David on the way.

David kicked down the door and was the first to find his mother lying dead with cuts to her neck and chest.

Butler opened a beer and had a cigar back at the family home, Miss Colborne said.

He told the police Mrs Butler had screamed abuse at him and ordered him to leave her flat. He said he lunged at her with the knife and fell backwards, knocking over a table.

They were pushing each other when the knife went into her throat.

The court heard that he washed the knife and took Mrs Butler’s dog out of the flat before locking the door.

A post mortem examination showed that death was caused by penetrating stab wounds to the neck and chest.

It was a sustained attack with a large kitchen knife found at the scene.

Miss Colborne said Mrs Butler’s body was found in the living room. She was lying on her back with both arms raised at her side. She was fully dressed but barefoot.

The trial continues.