Islington Council Chief Kate Dixon Stabbed 29 Times with Swiss Army Knife by 'Jealous Partner'

An engineer who stabbed his girlfriend to death after he found a flyer advertising a dating website for academics has said their relationship was "shattered" by the discovery.

Southwark Crown Court heard Jonathan Tebbs stabbed Kate Dixon 29 times with a Swiss Army knife, before stripping her and carrying her into the shower and washing blood off her body.

The 46-year-old, who admits manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility, said their 12-year relationship was "shattered" after he discovered a flyer for Blues Match - a dating and networking site especially for Oxbridge and the Ivy League.

Tebbs of Finsbury Park, north London, apparently snapped nine months later when Dixon, a 41-year-old Islington Council joint head of strategy, ended their relationship for another man.

After the killing, Tebbs researched Oscar Wilde's The Ballad of Reading Gaol, which features the verse:

He told jurors the couple had fallen deeply in love after they met on a tube in 2001. Despite a series of breakups and accusations surrounding their tumultuous relationship, Tebbs dismissed claims he had been possessive.

He said: "As far as I am aware she never called her friends to say she was frightened of me - there was never a period when she said that.

"I cannot explain why she would say that if she did at all."

It was in September 2012, when the pair were supposed to be moving in together, that Tebbs is said to have found the dating website flyer that set in motion the jealousy that ultimately led him to kill Dixon.

Tebbs denies murder and the trial continues.