PETER Balcombe was too upset to continue with his evidence and had to ask for a break after telling Bristol Crown Court of his wife' s last words.

Former rugby player Balcombe, 47, grabbed his wife by the throat and they fell to the floor of their home in Pewsey.

He said he did not realise initially that she was dead and he had not intended to kill her or hurt her seriously.

Balcombe denies murder and on the fifth day of his trial yesterday the defence case opened and he took to the witness stand.

Balcombe said his wife's last words to him before he killed her were: "If you weren't so f--ing inadequate I wouldn't have to go elsewhere."

As he repeated these words, "I was gutted." He became too emotional to continue with his evidence and there had to be a ten-minute break, Defence QC Nigel Pascoe told the jury that murder meant someone intending to kill another person or cause them serious harm.

He reminded the jury that pathologist Basil Purvue had said there was no evidence from the post mortem of any application of severe force.

"Has the Crown proved this is murder or is the right verdict, having heard all the evidence, manslaughter?" the QC asked.

He also raised the defence of provocation and mentioned the evidence already heard that Mrs Balcombe had a boyfriend.

Mr Pascoe asked: "Is there any more potent threat to a man than to throw his sexual inadequacy into his face?"

The court heard that Balcombe's first "shotgun marriage" at 18 had lasted only six months but he said his second marriage to Elizabeth was "a good healthy marriage" resulting in two children.

He denied trying to strangle his second wife as she had testified in court and said that marriage broke up when he began seeing a younger woman. "I screwed it up," he told the court.

He met Eunice Balcombe in her native Kenya in 1996 and came to England the following year with her adopted daughter Mumbi.

The court heard that their marriage had been marred by arguments and rows for the last few years, especially over the last three months.

Balcombe feared his wife had a lover after finding a text message on her mobile phone saying: "I miss you, I want you, kiss kiss."

He contacted the sender, 21-year-old Latvian Vladimir Platach, and he confronted him, begging him to stop the affair.

The court heard that Mr Platach told Balcombe that although the relationship had involved fondling, it had stopped short of full sex.

"I wanted him to leave my wife alone. He was breaking up the family," Balcombe said.

He admitted spiking a drink with Viagra for his wife to spice up their love life and said she was aware of what she was drinking.

Balcombe said he first hit his wife on the day of his father's funeral in 1998. "We had an argument and I gave her a slap."

He slapped her again during a holiday in Kenya after she had stayed out all night.

On the day his wife died, said Balcombe, she had a long telephone call from her sister in America so he took the children to school.

She was still on the phone when he returned. He asked if they could discuss their problems having previously talked about having a divorce.

Balcombe said his wife's response was: "You're not having a divorce."

He said his wife then "went into overdrive" and told him: "If I want a boyfriend or lover there is nothing you can do about it."

Then he repeated her last words.

After the break to compose himself Balcombe said: "I grabbed her by the throat to get her to wake up to reality.

"I held her for a few seconds and I had not finished what I was saying when we hit the floor."

Balcombe said he did not realise she was dead immediately.

"After it happened I went into the kitchen and made myself a cup of coffee.

"I did not intend to kill my wife or cause her serious harm.

"I wanted her to be straight with me and wake up to reality."

The case continues.