THE MAN accused of murdering his partner after a lockdown row says he cannot remember attacking her.

Ruth Brown, 52, was found dead at her home in Collyer Avenue, Bognor, where she lived with Wayne Morris, 47.

He is accused of killing her after they argued during the lockdown in April last year.

At Brighton Crown Court, the binman said he had been with Ms Brown for six years.

He knew through his daughter Skye's friendship with her daughter Lauren.

He moved to Bognor from Cannock in Staffordshire, and met Ruth, who was originally from Glasgow and worked at the Claremont Inn pub.

Together the couple had made future plans about emigrating.

The court heard about the days before the alleged killing, when they rowed about where he would stay for lockdown.

She was concerned about him continuing to work as a binman during the pandemic. But he did move back in.

He said that usually if they had a row, he would walk out and go back to his home in Larch Close, Bognor.

Ruth’s body was found in her bed days after she had been killed. He claimed he woke up to find Ruth dead on the kitchen floor, then moved her body and cleaned the floor in a “panic”.

His barrister Riel Meredith Karmy-Jones QC asked if he remembered how she came to be there.

“I have no recollection,” Morris replied. He said he accepted causing the injuries Ruth had suffered.

When asked why he accepted that, he said: “I assume it’s me because there was nobody else in the house and the house was all locked up.”

“How do you feel about that?” Ms Karmy-Jones asked.

“It is something I will have to live with for the rest of my life,” Morris said.

He later said he felt “devastated” and “genuinely remorseful” and said he did not intend to kill her.

Morris told the court he would binge on cider, and had also downed a large amount of whisky on the night of April 8. He was also a regular cannabis smoker, puffing away on £10 worth of the Class B drug every day.

Morris was asked to describe Ms Brown. He said: “She was a really nice person, with a lot of empathy. She was very generous and kind. She was a good mother, and at times she could be quite fiery.

“I have a lot of respect for her. I really, truly and deeply loved her.”

Morris, of Larch Close, Bognor, denies murder. The trial continues.