Daryl Berman, 71, is accused of murdering her husband David Berman, 84, at their home in March and told police that he fell in the kitchen and accidently landed on a paring knife

A ‘loving’ wife knifed her 84-year-old husband to death in their home after they were married for almost three decades, a court has heard.

Daryl Berman, 71, stands accused of murdering her husband David Berman, 84, at their home in March. She pleaded not guilty to the charge. Prosecutors allege that he defendant killed her husband deliberately and stabbed him in the chest 'for a reason known only to her'.

She told police that her husband’s death at the property in Prestwich, Greater Manchester was an accident and that he fell over in their kitchen and landed on a ' paring knife ' she had been using for her lunch. Jurors were told Mrs Berman seemed to be ‘emotionless’ in the days after Mr Berman’s death, and was ‘acting as though nothing had happened’.

Opening the case for the prosecution, Michael Brady KC said Mr Berman’s death was originally treated as an accident by police, reports Manchester Evening News . Mrs Berman called 999, at 1.55pm on March 13, to report that her husband was injured. He was pronounced dead at their home at 2.39pm, jurors were told.

Mr Brady said it was only at the hospital that a pathologist was called in, after another doctor had been ‘troubled’ by the injury. Mr Brady said Dr Philip Lumb reported that the stab wound had ‘typical features of a homicide’. He claimed that, though it was not impossible, an accidental fall was ‘very unlikely to have caused the fatal wound’.

Mr Berman was also found to have a wound to his finger, which prosecutors claimed could have been caused while trying to defend himself. Jurors heard the couple’s 27 year marriage had been ‘loving and mutually supportive’, and that there had been no record of domestic violence or involvement with police. Mrs Berman was described as a ‘very supportive and loving wife’.

On the day he died, Mr Berman had been with his daughter and great granddaughter to a play centre. Jurors heard Mrs Berman called 999 that afternoon and gave CPR under the instructions of the operator.

Asked what had happened, the court heard she said: “I don’t know. I was in the other room. He’s carried a tray in. And all I can see is the tray. I think there was a knife. I don’t know whether the little knife that was there has gone into him and stabbed him. I really don’t know what’s happened.” The trial continues.