A supermarket worker stabbed his wife to death in front of their three children after she left him for her internet lover.

William Commins stabbed wife Lorraine, 36, four times in the neck, abdomen and back with a bread knife.

Son Ryan, 12, ran outside to the car where lover Robert Leigh was waiting and told him: "My daddy has stabbed my mummy."

Eldest son Darryl, 15, ran for help and returned to find his mother had staggered outside where she and the other two boys were covered in blood.

He tried to stop his father taking his own life and suffered a cut hand.

The youngest child, Samuel, who decided to live with his father when his mother left two days before, told police he heard Commins call his mother a bitch before seeing him "hitting her with a knife".

John Causer, prosecuting, said: "Samuel told police his father told the boys to go upstairs. He heard the defendant call her a bitch and looked over the banisters to see him with a bread knife.

"Samuel thought his mother had been horrible to his father and didn't think his father had meant to hurt her. Commins told his son at the scene, 'I don't think I would have done it if mum was more nice and if she had sat down.'"

Ryan told police he heard his mother scream and turned to see his father pull a knife out from behind his back. He described how he grabbed her from behind and stabbed her in the neck.

Commins, who worked at Tesco, told police at the time: "I know I hurt her. I loved her so much and I am so sorry. When I saw her she smiled and the children smiled. I just remember I must have hurt her."

Commins, 38, of Wiston Avenue, Worthing, wept as the details of the case were heard at Lewes Crown Court yesterday.

He was due to stand trial for his wife's murder but pleaded guilty to manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility.

Commins, who will be sentenced on October 15, has been under cell watch in Lewes Prison since the stabbing on November 12, 2000, after repeated threats to kill himself.

Mrs Commins, who worked at C&A in Worthing, became involved with Mr Leigh, a divorced father-of-one from Wiltshire, last year after surfing the net.

Mr Causer said: "In August last year she was saying to a work friend that her relationship with her husband was over. Mr Commins was aware of this."

The defendant became suspicious of his wife and allegedly put a chip in her mobile phone to try to catch her out.

Darryl told police his father was jealous and bought his mother flowers and chocolates and even talked about them having another baby.

He even smashed the computer on which Mrs Commins had communicated with her lover and took the internet lead to work with him to stop her using it.

Mr Causer said: "The defendant offered his brother, David Hughes, £500 to give Mr Leigh a 'real good kicking'. This did not happen. The police became involved and asked Mr Commins to desist."

On November 10, two days before her death, Mrs Commins rang her lover to say she had left her husband and asked Mr Leigh to meet her and her three sons at Worthing railway station.

Her youngest son, Samuel, changed his mind at the last minute and decided he wanted to stay with his father.

On the day of the stabbing, Mrs Commins arranged with her husband to come to their home and pick up her belongings.

But Commins became angry when she rang back to say she would be late because he suspected she was in bed with her lover, the court heard.

Commins rang his sister, Launa Garrett, and his brother Mr Hughes and asked them to come to his house before Mrs Commins arrived.

Mr Leigh parked round the corner out of sight while Mrs Commins went inside the house with her two children.

Mr Causer said: "Lorraine left the car and within three minutes, Ryan came back saying, 'My daddy has stabbed my mummy'.

"A neighbour heard Mr Commins say, 'I am so sorry. I stabbed her four times. I love her'."

An ambulance took Mrs Commins to Worthing Hospital where she was pronounced dead on arrival.