A retired chemist bludgeoned his 83-year-old partner to death after a row about straightening his duvet, a court has heard.
Edgar Fairhurst, 74, is accused of striking Marjorie Elphick with a lump hammer about 10 times in the bedroom of their home in Bideford, Devon.
Fairhurst allegedly later told police that she had “goaded and irritated” him for decades and that when Elphick told him to straighten his duvet, “something happened in his brain” and he attacked her.
He is said to have told officers: “I deserve to go to prison for life. I have destroyed the only person I loved and needed, in a moment of insanity.”
Exeter crown court was told that Fairhurst denies murder but has admitted manslaughter. He had been in a relationship with the victim for about 40 years.
Paul Dunkels QC, prosecuting, said the attack took place in the early hours of 30 December 2015. Fairhurst used a hammer that he kept in a drawer as a weapon in case of intruders and struck his partner on the head, Dunkels said.
Fairhurst then got dressed and tried unsuccessfully to take his own life. He subsequently called 999 at 4.15am to say that he had beaten his partner to death, the jury heard.
“She was goading me. I beat her to a pulp. It’s a mess up there. She was nagging and would not stop going on and on,” he is said to have told police.
On the way to the police station, Fairhurst reportedly told officers: “Marjorie did not deserve to die. She was good. You can’t just kill someone because they are irritating you.”
Forensic experts said Elphick, a mother of one, was lying in bed when she was hit for the first time. During the remainder of the attack, she was at times standing up, kneeling and on the floor.
The prosecution said his claim that she had goaded him for years was a “gross overstatement”. The jury will hear from two psychiatrists about Fairhurst’s mental state at the time, Dunkels said. There was no suggestion that Fairhurst had ever been violent towards her before, he added.
Simon Laws QC, defending, said Fairhurst admitted killing his partner but that the jury had to decide whether mental illness reduced his responsibility for the death.
The victim’s son, Keith Chatfield, told the court that his mother was a “calm, kind and generous” woman who was never unkind to Fairhurst. His mother was sociable and had friends, whereas Fairhurst had no family or friends, Chatfield said.
The trial continues.
