A psychiatrist today told a murder jury that a Saundersfoot man had not been suffering from an abnormality of mind when he stabbed his partner at least 177 times.

And Dr John Sandford said it was possible that Arthur Pitt-Pladdy, aged 36, was simply pretending when he said he could not remember what had happened.

Pitt-Pladdy admits the manslaughter of Kim Butler, aged 44, but denies murder on the grounds of dimished responsibility due to mental illness.

Dr Sandford told Swansea crown court he agreed that Pitt-Pladdy was not only an alcoholic but that he suffered from Alcohol Dependency Syndrome.

Asked by Paul Thomas QC, for the prosecution, if his ADS qualified as an abnormality of mind within the Homicide Act, Dr Sandford replied, "I cannot see how that can be the case".

In his opinion what Pitt-Pladdy did that day could not be explained by alcohol alone.

He agreed that the defendant had had a severe drink problem as long ago as 1995 and he was aware Pitt-Pladdy claimed to have been drinking 130 units a week when he killed Ms Butler in August, 2008.

Dr Sandford said Pitt-Pladdy's apparent inability to explain what had happened could be just a pretence because he had been able to tell a 999 operator what had taken place. He had also made comments immediately after his arrest and then during police interviews what contained more detail than he could now recall.

He said that during his interview with Pitt-Pladdy the defendant had told him he had "come round" to find himself lying on top of Ms Butler, his partner, and there had been a knife sticking in her neck.

Pitt-Pladdy told him, "Something overtook me. It's obvious my mind switched off. It's not natural. I had not planned it. I'm gutted."

Pitt-Pladdy told the doctor he could not remember the event properly but later said, "Maybe I don't want to remember".

Ms Butler was stabbed to death in the flat in Pennant Avenue, Saundersfoot, she shared with Pitt-Pladdy.

The trial continues.