Overview

• On the opening day, jurors were taken through transcripts of WhatsApp chats, calls, and CCTV that charted arguments over money, suspected infidelity, and drinking.
• Prosecutors say Lawton stabbed Michelle Egge-Bailey in the neck as she lay in bed, describing a killing carried out out of anger and revenge after she reported his drink-driving.
• The defence says he has pleaded guilty to manslaughter and denies murder, urging jurors to consider whether he was triggered and lost self-control.
• Evidence presented includes messages to a friend saying he had done something beyond stupid and I killed my missus, plus bank card withdrawals and alcohol purchases with her body still at home.
• Forensic findings detail three neck wounds, one severing the jugular, and a possible defensive arm injury, with toxicology showing she was over three times the driving alcohol limit; the trial at Bradford Crown Court is scheduled to last four days.