Alleged murderer stabbed girlfriend after she asked if he was seeing other women, trial hears

Elinor O'Brien argued with her boyfriend over whether he was seeing other women just minutes before she was fatally stabbed in the groin, a jury has heard.

Kevin Mannion, 45, is charged with murdering his girlfriend Elinor, 22, at an apartment in Manchester city centre on August 16. Emergency services found Elinor with a deep stab wound, and she was rushed to hospital where she died three days later following a 'catastrophic' brain injury.

Previously, the court heard how Mannion told police she was 'accidentally pierced' by 'something in her belongings' as he threw her bags at her during an argument.

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On Thursday, the jury at Liverpool Crown Court heard a series of transcripts of police interviews following Mannion's arrest, in which he denied stabbing Elinor and said he 'didn't know' how she had become injured. In the transcripts, read into evidence by DC Kittley and junior prosecutor Mr Baxter, Mannion told officers the pair had argued after she asked if he was seeing other women when he failed to respond to a number of texts from Elinor telling him 'I need you'.

The court heard how Elinor attended hospital on the evening of August 14 - two days before the fatal stabbing- after suffering an injury to her left breast, which prosecutors allege was a stab wound inflicted by Mannion after a night out in Manchester. In the transcripts, Mannion denied any knowledge of the injury, and said Elinor would not tell him how it had happened.

Elinor sent Mannion texts saying 'I need you' during the hospital visit, which he told police he did not see until Monday August 15, the court