A jury has been sent out to consider its verdict in the trial of a soldier accused of murdering his ex-girlfriend by cutting her throat from ear to ear.

The prosecution says Lance Corporal Trimaan "Harry" Dhillon, 26, broke into Alice Ruggles' flat in Gateshead last October and attacked her, leaving her to bleed to death on the bathroom floor.

Newcastle Crown Court has heard that he became obsessed with the 24-year-old graduate, who worked for Sky, and stalked her when he realised she was moving on after their intense relationship ended.

Dhillon, a signaller with 2 Scots who is based near Edinburgh, denies murder and says Miss Ruggles died as a result of an accident when she leapt at him with a carving knife.

He told the jury they had been struggling, that he had tried to disarm her and she cut herself when he blocked a lunge, and the knife stuck in her neck when she fell to the floor.