A teacher bludgeoned his wife to death in a "frenzy" after confronted her about her affair with a colleague, a court was told.

In a videotaped police interview, Mark Parnham said he hit his wife Jillian over and over again with a metal bar after she taunted him about her lover.

Parnham, 36, who denies murder, watched as the court heard his account of what happened on the evening of March 5 last year at the couple's luxury home in Millmead, Ashington, near Storrington.

The defendant told Detective Constable Howard Bostock he had been suspicious for weeks that his wife, 38, was having an affair with a colleague in the maths department at Millais girls' school in Horsham.

He said a heated argument on the night of the killing turned into a violent fight, with both sides saying they wanted custody of the couple's two children, David, four at the time, and Alex, who was 16 months old.

Lewes Crown Court heard how Mrs Parnham said the defendant was jealous of her playing in a school band with her lover Christopher Worth.

Parnham told the police: "I had been suspicious for some time. I had mentioned it to her, she said I was schizo, not right in the head.

"She said it was because she was playing music with this bunch of people. She was talking about this guy Chris. She never talked about anyone like that.

"I said maybe there's something more. She said there was nothing and that I was just jealous."

The court heard how earlier the defendant had found the contraceptive pill in his wife's handbag, prompting him to confront her about the affair.

The jury heard how the argument on March 5 became even more violent, with Mrs Parnham eventually hitting her husband on the head with a metal bar.

Parnham claimed he had brought the bar home from school to learn more about metalwork.

Parnham, in the interview, said he and his wife began to argue as they looked at the photographs of the family's previous summer together.

Both were sitting on the settee in the lounge.

Parnham said: "She said, 'You could not leave well alone, you could not keep out of it. We could have been together with the boys, at least they would have been more together'.

"She must have snatched up the bar and smacked me round the head. She was shouting.

"I stood up and she hit me again. She said 'why did you interfere. Why didn't you just leave us alone'.

"She hit me again three times. I snatched the bar from her and I hit her, I started lashing out. I was hitting her on the head.

"She said 'that's right, now you have attacked me, you are hitting me. You will never get the boys because you are a wife batterer. I will tell everyone that you hate me'."

Parnham then told police how he attempted to call for an ambulance after seeing blood pouring from his wife's head.

As he walked to the telephone he claims his wife again picked up the bar and attacked him.

He said: "I turned round and lashed out with my foot to get her away. I said, 'You are killing me, what are you doing?'.

"I pushed her and I just started hitting her and hitting her and hitting her.

"I was just lashing out all over the place, hitting her, hitting her.

"I was hitting her around the head. I was hitting her with the bar. The next thing I knew she was lying on the floor. I had pushed the bar into her head. I could not believe it.

"I took my jumper and put it under her head. I think she was already dead.

"I must have just lost it."

Mr Bostock asked Parnham how many times he had struck his wife. He answered: "It could have been hundreds. I was in a frenzy, I was just insane."

The trial continues.