Victim was knifed in the back, court told

Before her death, Jackie Harrison had attended sessions with Carol Martin, a victim liaison officer with the probation service.

Miss Martin told Worcester Crown Court that in Nov-ember 2011 Miss Harrison complained that William Cummins had cut her hair with a knife before using the blade on her back.

Miss Harrison has also alleged that 12 months earlier Cummins had “stamped on her face leaving an imprint”.

Cummins, aged 51, of no fixed address, denies murder.

The battered body of Miss Harrison, 48, was found at her flat in Gresham Road, Dines Green, on April 12.

Miss Martin said the murder victim had talked about an 18-month relationship with Cummins during a meeting on February 14 – and said they were planning to get married.

Miss Harrison had visited a squat in Birmingham where Cummins lived most of the time but had found it difficult to live in that kind of environment, so had returned to Worcester.

She was worried that when former boyfriend Sammy Wilson was released from jail he would kill her because of her new romance.

Wilson had been sent to prison for four years for throwing boiling water over her.

Tracy Hawkins, a supervisor at the Co-op in Dines Green, Worcester, told the jury she had never seen Cummins sober in the shop.

She last saw him in March when he was very drunk, arguing with himself, and she feared he might throw a beer can at her car.

Shop assistant Kelly Croke said Cummins could be charming and friendly but also aggressive and verbally abusive in the Co-op.

The court was told that Cummins was arrested when drunk in Tunbridge, Kent, on March 31. He claimed he had gone there to see his sister. But she was no longer living there.

Dr Owen Cain had prescribed medicaton for Miss Harrison. In a statement he said the epileptic was drinking two litres or a bottle of sherry a day, had suicidal thoughts and a history of depression.

The trial continues.