Victim fought for her life as she was strangled and stabbed

Mark Sinclair admits killing Kylie Dembrey, but denies murdering her

A THEALE woman fought for her life as she was being strangled, a jury heard.

Scratches on the face of killer Mark Sinclair were made by victim Kylie Dembrey, experts said.

But it was a stab wound that ultimately proved fatal, Reading Crown Court was told.

Mr Sinclair admits killing his girlfriend of 12 years but denies murder due to diminished responsibility.

Jurors have been told that Mr Sinclair suffers from Cluster B Personality Disorder, which affected his education, relationships and work.

But Mary Loram QC, prosecuting, said his actions were "a result of anger and an outburst of violence rather than any episode involving a mental illness."

Mr Sinclair was not in the dock on Thursday, the fourth day of his trial, to hear gruesome details of his former partner's wounds.

He had asked to be excused and, in granting the request, Judge Paul Dugdale told jurors they should not make any adverse assumptions of Mr Sinclair based on that.

Jurors have already heard how police were called to Blossom Lane, Theale, in the early hours of September 6 last year after Mr Sinclair called 999 saying that he had killed the mother-of-two.

A pathologist's report revealed no alcohol or illegal drugs in Ms Dembrey's system and no evidence of previous domestic violence.

The court heard how Miss Dembrey had sustained three stab wounds, one to the chest and two to the neck.

The serrated knife used to kill Ms Dembrey was shown to the jury.

The jury also analysed digital representations of the injuries Mr Sinclair had inflicted upon Miss Dembrey, which Dr Fesan-Earl had noted during his post-mortem examinations.

This included the appearance of petechial haemorrhaging consistent with strangulation.

Compression of the neck, however, was not ruled to be a primary cause of death, but a “contributory factor”, and was “nowhere as important as the stab wound”, pathologist Dr Ashley Fegan-Earl told the court.

He revealed that Ms Dembrey was still alive after the strangulation, adding: “You would not produce petechial haemorrhaging if you had already been stabbed. In my view, compression precedes the stabbing.”

Dr Fesan-Earl also said that, as a result of his findings, it was “entirely conceivable” that Miss Dembrey had died by the time police officers arrived at the property.

The court also heard how Mr Sinclair had sustained scratches on the right hand side of his cheek, which the pathologist suggested was “wholly consistent” with the view that they were fingernail abrasions caused by Miss Dembrey.

An MoD police officer who was first on the scene said that Miss Dembrey's body was lying on the bedroom floor, with the knife at her feet.

The court heard that officers had attempted resuscitation but Miss Dembrey was pronounced dead at the scene.

Ms Loram told the court that Mr Sinclair asked officers after he was arrested: "It’s bad, ain’t it?"

She said: "When he found out the time of death of Kylie, he said this, 'So she was alive when I left?' "You may think that is a sign of someone thinking lucidly – working out timings – despite the horrendous situation he was in.

"He said that he didn’t mean to do it, and 'I can remember having an argument, that’s it'...he referred to a scratch mark on his neck and said, 'that’s where she scratched me.'

"You will hear evidence that the scratch marks to the defendant are consistent with Kylie scratching out as he strangled her."

The trial continues and it is for a jury of five women and seven men to determine whether Mr Sinclair murdered his girlfriend, or did so while suffering from a medical episode.