Adrian Strong, prosecuting, and DC Karen Stead, who conducted Hill's interviews after his arrest, read extracts of his account to Leeds Crown Court on Monday (April 28).

The court heard that when officers arrested Hill, 48, for the murder of his 73-year-old business partner at his home in Lakeside Meadows, Pontefract, he said: "Me? I tried to save her."

Hill claims he found Mrs Wright's body in a pool of blood on the kitchen floor of her bungalow on Redhill Gardens, Castleford, on September 27 2006. He denies murder.

Mr Strong said during Hill's first interview as a suspect at Wakefield's Wood Street police station on Wednesday October 18 2006, he was asked: "Are you responsible for the murder of Molly Wright?"

He replied: "No."

Police asked Hill to give an account of what happened on the day of the alleged attack.

He said he had been at work at the greetings card and toy stall he shared with Mrs Wright at Castleford indoor market from around 9am.

He told police that Mrs Wright had visited unexpectedly that morning at around 11.20am after visiting a warehouse in Leeds and he helped her unload some stock from her car.

He said before she left at around 11.50, she gave him a carrier bag filled with "cut" bank statements and a glue stick and said: "These will bring you luck".

He said he "didn't know what to make of it" and thought he would take it home to show his wife, Maxine.

He told officers that Mrs Wright had suffered from "delusional paranoia" in the past, and had accused him of having an affair.

He said she had been seen by a doctor, who said it might have been brought on by the stress of having breast cancer twice.

He also told officers he thought that when Mrs Wright left the market, she might have picked up a carrier bag containing a copy of The Times newspaper that he had bought that morning but he "couldn't be sure".

The court has previously heard a copy of The Times, dated September 27 2006, was found with some bloodstaining at Mrs Wright's bungalow.

He told police he would never have taken a newspaper into her home.

He said he finished work at around 1pm and went home, where he slept until around 2.05pm-2.10pm.

In his interview as a witness he told police that after he woke up, he drove to Ropergate in Pontefract to make a hairdressers' appointment for one of his sons, but as a suspect gave a "different" account.

He said he drove to Airedale and walked around to try and track down a customer who was paying for goods in instalments and owed him money from the previous Christmas.

When asked why changed his account, he said when he was interviewed as a witness he knew someone had been arrested at that time and he did not want his wife or anybody to know that he let someone "walk off without paying the full amount".

He added: "I was embarrassed about it."

The court has previously heard someone was arrested on the day Mrs Wright was found dead, but later eliminated from the investigation.

Hill told the police he had then planned to drive in Pontefract, but while on his way the "traffic was terrible" so he decided to go and visit Mrs Wright.

He said when he arrived at her bungalow he knocked on her window and door but received no answer so after a while, jumped over a gate into her back garden.

He told police that when he got inside he saw "blood over the floor" by the fridge and Mrs Wright lying on the floor.

He said he also noticed a small pillow by her right side, which he later placed under her head.

He said: "I cuddled her and I had my hands behind her head. It (the blood] was really thick, it had bits in it as well."

He said he held her to his chest.

He told police he dialled 999 and ran to seek help from Mrs Wright's next-door neighbour, Eric Smith.

He said when he and Mr Smith returned to the house, the emergency services rang back and asked him if he wanted to try to give Mrs Wright mouth-to-mouth or CPR.

He said he would, and as he tried to revive her he told police: "I could taste her blood on my mouth and smell her blood."

In later interviews, Hill used his right to remain silent and in response to questions said: "No reply".

Mr Strong said: "He was asked if it was right that he killed Molly, and he said 'no reply'".

Proceeding.

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