KNIGHTCOTE MURDER: Husband beat his estranged wife to death with saucepan

AN airline pilot smashed his estranged wife with a saucepan, then punched, kicked and stamped her to death in a rage because she refused to drop the asking price on their former home, writes our court correspondent.

Despite the brutality of the killing, Andrew McIntosh, a £100,000-a-year pilot with the TUI holiday company, has pleaded not guilty to his wife Patricia’s murder at their home, Grass Yard in Knightcote, where she had continued living after McIntosh moved out.

On the opening day of the trial on Monday, the jury at Warwick Crown Court heard the defence case is that 54-year-old McIntosh, who was living in a cottage at Woolscott Manor, Woolscott, Rugby, was suffering from diminished responsibility.

The two, who had both been married before, had married in 2012, but separated in June last year, and divorce proceedings had begun.

McIntosh went out drinking after the killing and even admitted to what he had done to friends.

When he was arrested later he told police that he had 'lost control', the court heard.

Consultant pathologist Dr Alexander Kolar told the court Patricia had 34 separate injuries ‘going from head to toe,’ including number of ‘defensive’ injuries to her arms and hands from where she had tried to fend off blows.

Prosecutor Peter Grieves-Smith told the jury: “What is the issue in the case? The defendant accepts he unlawfully killed Patricia McIntosh, and that when he did so he had a murderous intent.

“The prosecution say he was consumed with rage and intended to kill her. The defence say he’s guilty of manslaughter by reason of diminished responsibility.

“You have to consider, did he have an abnormality of mind, did that result from a recognisable condition, did that affect his ability to act with self-control, and if he had that disability, did it contribute to his killing of Patricia McIntosh?

“The prosecution case is that the defendant acted in rage, anger and frustration because she would not do what he wanted her to do, and that it’s as simple as that.”

But he added: “You have heard about a woman dying at the hands of her estranged husband as she lay dying on her kitchen floor, but we ask you to reach verdicts based on a cool and calm consideration of the evidence.”

The trial continues.

More from the trial in Thursday's Herald.