A collection of 35 kitchen knives was seized by police after a Newton Abbot man in a love triangle was stabbed through the heart by the jealous estranged husband of the woman with whom he was sleeping.

Exeter Crown Court heard the weapons were seized by officers after Colin Myhill was arrested for allegedly killing Mark Dicken in his home in Highweek Road last September.

The knives were found in Myhill's lodgings at Broadlands Avenue, in neighbouring gardens and hedgerows and at the dead man's home.

Jurors were shown an album of photographs of the knives but have been told that police have not been able to establish which one was the alleged murder weapon.

Myhill has pleaded not guilty to the murder of 38-year-old Mr Dicken on September 25 last year.

But he said that what he had apparently done would 'haunt him for the rest of his life.'

On the third day of the murder trial at Exeter Crown Court, prosecutors claimed Myhill became enraged on learning about his wife Bonnie's affair with Mr Dicken and sought him out, armed with a kitchen knife.

Myhill told the jury he didn't remember stabbing Mr Dicken but admitted it must have been him.

He also admitted inflicting two stab wounds on Mr Dicken, one into his armpit and the other, fatal wound which pierced his heart.

Bonnie Myhill, giving evidence to the jury, said her estranged husband was not devoted to her but obssessed with her and treated her as a 'possession'.

Prosecutor Martin Edmunds, QC, asked Mrs Myhill: 'Can you tell us what you mean by that?'

She replied: 'He wanted to know everything I did. He wanted to know where I was, what I was doing and he was always phoning me.'

The events focus around the early hours of the morning after Mrs Myhill and Mr Dicken arranged to meet at his house.

The court heard Myhill become suspicious and spied on Mr Dicken's house, opposite the Newtons pub where all three had been drinking earlier.

After making a series of calls to his wife's phone he walked into the house through the unlocked front door and confronted Mr Dicken on the upstairs landing.

The victim was stabbed in the chest, through the rib cage and into the heart – that injury caused his death. He was also stabbed a second time in the side

of his chest.

The court was read a transcript of Mrs Myhill's call to the 999 service in which she is heard to say: 'Mark, are you all right?' and 'Mark, the ambulance is on its way, darling.'

Myhill then returned to his home in Broadlands Avenue and there was a four-hour police siege.

Newton Abbot-based PC James Kelly, who was first on the scene, told the court: 'I saw Myhill leaning out of the living room window. He was wearing a green T-shirt and had a kitchen knife in his hand. I started walking towards him to try and talk to him.

'He told us to keep away from him. He did not want the police near the house. He was agitated and he did not want to engage with us at all.'

PC Kelly said Myhill was threatening to kill himself, adding: 'He said the only way he would come out is if police were carrying him out.'

After a four-hour stand off, police stormed the building and found him locked in the upstairs bathroom.

During searches, 31 knives were seized from rooms in the Broadlands Avenue house.

Martin Edmunds, QC, prosecuting, said: 'One knife was seized by scenes of crime officers from the kitchen sink. It had been submerged in water and part of it was bent and a small part of the handle was missing.'

An eight-inch serrated knife was found in a neighbouring garden and a police officer found one in a hedgerow of another Broadlands Avenue property.

A brown kitchen knife was also seized from the garden shed at Mr Dicken's home in Highweek Road.

In court, Myhill said he was convinced Mr Dicken and his wife were having an affair, so he returned to his home and grabbed a knife.

He walked to the leisure centre where Mr Dicken's car was parked and slashed the tyres before going to the victim's house to confront him.

Myhill told the court: 'The door was ajar, it was like it had been set up for me to find them. I could hear noises upstairs and I was getting more and more angry.

'I started up the stairs and they creaked. Mr Dicken came rushing out with nothing on. He pushed me across the landing and we grappled with each other.'

During the scuffle Myhill confronted Mr Dicken about the affair.

Mr Dicken allegedly replied that Mrs Myhill was 'easy meat'.

Myhill said: 'Once I heard those words she was easy meat I just went off the scale and totally lost the plot.'

Defending, Geoffrey Mercer, QC, asked Myhill how he felt after the incident.

He said: 'I could not comprehend what I had just done.

'I thought that I had seriously hurt someone, but I did not think I had killed him.

'I did not even think I could ever do something like that.

'I am just sorry that it happened and it's going to haunt me for the rest of my life.'

Carol Millington, the co-owner of Newton's pub, gave evidence and was followed by barmaid Vivienne Bush.

Both were working in the pub on the night Mr Dicken died.

The Myhills split up in July 2007, the court heard.

Geoffrey Mercer, QC, defending, asked Ms Millington: 'He (Myhill) would openly speak to you about how much he loved her and was fond of her?'

She replied: 'Yes.'

Ms Millington said that on the evening of September 24 she and Myhill had been playing euchre at the King's Arms, Kingsteignton, but had returned to the pub later that night.

She agreed Myhill had been in a 'cheerful' mood during the game and was laughing and joking with team mates.

She agreed she saw no signs of friction between Myhill and his wife, who was also in the pub that night, along with Mr Dicken.

Ms Bush told the court Myhill had also spoken to her about his marriage. She said she had always found Colin pleasant, smiley and 'generally chatty'.

He would openly talk about his love for Bonnie, that he would do anything for her and wanted them to be together again, she told the court.

The trial, which is expected to finish this week, continues.