Murder suspect told police he 'did not intend to kill' Hartlepool mum Kelly Franklin who was stabbed to death in the street

Torbjorn Kettlewell is alleged to have stabbed Kelly Franklin, 29, more than 30 times in a street attack in Hartlepool.

Several people witnessed the attack and Kettlewell was arrested the next day.

In an interview with police which was read to the jury at Teesside Crown Court, Kettlewell said: "I didn't set out to harm Kelly, despite the incident I care for her.

"I did not intend to kill her.

"The only way I can explain it is my brain wasn't functioning correctly, it was fuzzy."

The court heard earlier that Kettlewell was driven to and from the scene of the stabbing in Oxford Road, Hartlepool, by Julie Wass, a former neighbour with whom he was having an affair.

Wass, who is also charged with murder, told police she was parked nearby when she saw Kettlewell stab Ms Franklin, 29, before he got into her car.

Prosecutors allege Wass drove Kettlewell to a wooded area near Trimdon which the pair of them had visited earlier that day.

"Julie Wass was not involved," Kettlewell told police.

"After the incident I didn't speak to anyone, I walked along Brierton Lane and then miles further on.

"Julie Wass may be trying to protect me, but she wasn't there."

The interviewing officer put it to Kettlewell that he was remembering only what he wanted to about what had happened, and was saying he walked away from the scene in the opposite direction to the way he really went to put police off his trail.

The officer accused Kettlewell of trying to manipulate the investigation.

"I'm not going to answer any more questions about Julie Wass," Kettlewell told the police.

"I am not trying to manipulate anybody.

"I know this is the end of my life whether I get the higher or lower sentence."

Kettlewell said the woman in whose house he was found after the stabbing was 'not involved in any way' in what had happened.

He conceded he was annoyed with Ms Franklin as part of a dispute over the care of the couple's three children, but he had only gone to see her on the day of the stabbing to talk to her.

Kettlewell, 30, of Oval Grange, Hartlepool, denies murder on August 3.

Wass, 48, of Kipling Road, Hartlepool, denies murder.

She admits assisting an offender.

Proceeding.