A FATHER of five had his throat cut and was left to die after being confronted by his wife’s new lover, a murder trial heard.

Mark Webb, 40, was attacked by Brian Cox in Acomb, York, after exchanging angry text messages with his estranged wife, Cox’s lover, Susan Webb, Leeds Crown Court was told yesterday.

Cox, 29, slashed Mr Webb with a Stanley Knife, leaving a wound 19 cm (eight inches) long, then fled while Mrs Webb tried to destroy the evidence, said Richard Mansell, QC, prosecuting.

He said Mrs Webb rang police, but did not tell them about the attack, and it was an hour before an ambulance was called, after police found the body.

Mr Webb made it from Stuart Road, where the attack happened, to his marital home in nearby Middleton Road, said Mr Mansell.

The prosecutor said the attack came within an hour of Mrs Webb sending a text to her husband, reading: "Why don't you just do us all a favour and go die?"

Another woman, waiting for her granddaughter in a school playground, allegedly heard Cox tell Mrs Webb: "He's dead”, less than an hour before the altercation.

Cox and Mr Webb came face to face when the latter tried to enter the home of his wife's friend Kerry Ann Munton in Stuart Road. He had been drinking when he went to the house, demanding to see his children.

Mr Mansell said: “Cox stopped him and in the ensuing struggle, he used the knife quite deliberately to inflict a very deep wound to the neck which severed his jugular vein.”

As blood spurted from the wound in his neck, Mr Webb staggered 61 metres from the Stuart Road house to his marital home in Middleton Road, where he collapsed in the garden, claimed the prosecution barrister.

His body was later found by police following the trail of his blood. He had two more knife wounds measuring 14cm (5.5 ins) and 5cm (two ins).

Mr Mansell said Cox had Webb restrained with his right arm, leaving the right side of his neck exposed and vulnerable. He added: “This was a quite deliberate wounding, carried out with the intention either of killing Webb or at the very least of inflicting really serious bodily injury."

Cox ran from the scene and "in a state of panic" tried to get help from a friend, before making his way to Peter Hill Drive in Clifton, where his ex-lover Dawn Coates gave him a clean jacket and took away the biker's jacket he had been wearing.

The prosecution claim the jacket had Mark Webb's blood on it and Coates had given it stain remover treatment and started washing it in her washing machine before midnight the same day, knowing Cox had been involved in violence.

Mrs Webb cleaned away the blood in Miss Munton's garden, got rid of the Stanley knife and covered up Cox's presence, said the prosecutor.

Mr Mansell said: “The prosecution case against Susan Webb is that she was in a serious relationship with him (Brian Cox) at that time and was prepared to do anything to protect him from the police and perserve her relationship.”

The day before Mr Webb was killed, Cox told family support worker Sheila Stapylton that he lived at Bede Avenue in Clifton, the court was told.

He denies the murder of Mr Webb, who had been living in Cornlands Road. Susan Webb, 30, of Middleton Drive in Acomb, denies three charges of perverting justice and Coates, 49, of Chapel Terrace, Acomb, denies one charge of perverting justice.

Opening the prosecution at Leeds Crown Court, Mr Mansell alleged the Webb marriage broke up in 2009 after domestic violence and Mr Webb moved out. Cox had lived with Coates until November 2010 after which she had taken out a non-molestation order against him, and he had been living with Susan Webb at Middleton Road for about a week.

On March 3, Ms Stapylton warned Cox not to confront Mr Webb. He promised not to "unless Mark laid a finger on Susan".

On March 4, Mr Webb told Susan Webb he wanted to see their children, but she said they were going to Ms Munton's. They exchanged text messages during which Mr Webb told her: "I do warn you that if I have to lose my kids then you will too, you don't scare me no more.” He said he was “ready to die”.

Mr Mansell said that shortly after 4pm, Mr Webb walked into Ms Munton's back garden and demanded to see his children.

Susan Webb refused and told him to leave. He tried to get into the house and Cox pushed him back to the covered alleway at the side of the house and slashed him with a "fast, diagonal striking action" while Ms Munton watched.

Mr Mansell said Susan Webb dialled 999 and called police, but didn't tell them her husband was injured and didn’t ask for an ambulance.

While she was on the landline, Cox phoned her mobile phone and talked to Ms Munton who told Susan Webb he was on his way to the police station. Susan Webb told Ms Munton twice "no he isn't". She claimed to a neighbour, Julie Foster, that her husband had cut his own throat.

Mr Mansell claimed Cox "by now in a state of panic" asked a friend Mark Johnson to do a favour for him, and shortly after Mr Johnson refused, told Coates by phone to fetch him a jacket from his mother's.

Cox then made his way to Peter Hill Drive where Coates was with his children and a friend.

The trial continues.