A MAN was stabbed to death by his partner after he walked in on her and her lover, a court heard.

Natasha Elderfield, 41, is accused of stabbing Robert Dobinson in the heart with a kitchen knife while she was in a drunken rage.

A jury at Oxford Crown Court heard jealous Mr Dobinson had repeatedly phoned his girlfriend while she was entertaining Tony Steggles in her house boat moored in Abingdon on the day he was killed.

Opening the trial yesterday Charles Ward-Jackson, prosecuting, said: “The prosecution says the defendant picked up the kitchen knife and she stabbed him in the chest intending, if not to kill him, then at the very least, in a drunken rage, to cause him serious injury.”

The court heard mother-oftwo Elderfield had been in a turbulent relationship with 33-year-old Mr Dobinson since June 2012, and she had lived in a tent in woodland in Abingdon before moving into a cabin cruiser moored near Bridge Street.

Mr Dobinson, from Faringdon and known locally as Robert ‘Raggy’ Smith, had stayed with Elderfield on the night before the stabbing and she said they had both had sex that night and the following morning.

Mr Ward-Jackson said the couple regularly both drank in excess and would often phone the police making allegations of violence and theft against each other.

He said Elderfield had met Mr Steggles in a pub in August 2014 and they had started a sexual relationship, which Mr Dobinson knew about.

The court heard Mr Steggles had turned up at the boat with some alcohol on the morning of Sunday, October 19, last year.

Mr Dobinson left the couple together to go to visit a friend in Abingdon, where he had several drinks.

Mr Ward-Jackson said Mr Dobinson made a number of phone calls to his girlfriend during the afternoon, where they argued, and he decided at about 7pm to return to the boat to sort the situation out.

The jury heard Mr Steggles told police that he and Elderfield had been drinking wine and cider and dancing to music through the afternoon and early evening. He had his trousers off when Mr Dobinson appeared in the cabin.

Mr Dobinson demanded Elderfield hand over her phone and took it off her.

A struggle then took place between the two in the cabin and then continued on the deck of the boat.

Mr Steggles said he saw Elderfield appear in the cabin again and the noise of the couple arguing ended suddenly, which is when it is alleged the stabbing occurred.

The court heard occupants of a neighbouring boat heard a man banging on their roof shouting for help shortly afterwards.

They called the police, who found Mr Dobinson still alive but unconscious on the ground. He was taken to John Radcliffe hospital in Headington for emergency surgery but died later that evening.

Elderfield denies murder.

The trial continues.