A MAN who stabbed a pub landlord to death believed he was Jesus, his estranged wife has told a court.

Lee Abbott, 35, denies murdering 49-year-old Christian Thornton outside the Hammer and Pincers pub in Widnes, Cheshire, last August, but has admitted manslaughter.

Kerri Abbott, 40, who is going through a divorce from the defendant, told Liverpool Crown Court on Monday he had episodes where he would "lose touch with reality".

She said he revealed to her he had been sexually abused by a gangster when he was a teenager.

She said: "He was always in fear. He said he had manipulated his mind."

She told the court he would behave strangely and believed the abuser, who she refused to name for her "own safety", was always "in the shadows".

She said Abbott believed he was Jesus because his mother's middle name was Mary, his father's middle name was Joseph and his middle name was Christian.

"He really thought he was Jesus, it was horrific to live with," she said.

She said they had married in 2012, but split after about three years, and had a six-year-old son together.

She said: "He tried really hard to have some normality in his life and have a normal life but unsuccessfully."

The court heard she had been in touch with Abbott on the day of the murder, August 11, because he had been due to look after their son but changed his plans.

Mrs Abbott sent a text message to her ex-partner at 3.15pm, minutes before the stabbing, asking if he was "on hard drugs" following a phone call, the court heard.

She said: "He was just incoherent. He sounded really, really in a terrible state. He sounded crazier than ever."

The jury was told there was also a 52-second phone call between the two following the incident.

Mrs Abbott said: "He sounded like a crazy man, someone who didn't know what was going on, and he was crying."

She said she knew Abbott carried knives because he was "frightened for his life".

The court has heard Abbott, of Rose Street, Widnes, stabbed Mr Thornton, a father-of-three, 11 times after being barred from his pub.

The trial was adjourned until Tuesday.