A SWINDON dad accused of trying to kill his children has told a court he was acting out a fantasy game.

The 36-year-old said it was a cry for help after his eight-year relationship with their mum came to an end.

The case at Bristol Crown Court was held up for 10 minutes yesterday when the defendant burst into tears after being asked if he had tried to murder the two youngsters.

"Most definitely not, no," he replied before breaking down and being led away.

James Patrick, for the prosecution, claims the man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, tried to kill his two children after his ex-partner refused to give their relationship one last go.

The defence says the man knew the children would come to no harm as his car had a catalytic converter.

He sent a series of malicious text messages threatening to kill the children to his ex-partner as she enjoyed a night in town .

Under cross-examination from Michael Vere-Hodge, he was asked why he sent the first and said: "I never intended anything by it. It was just a text message sent to her off the top of my head. No meaning to it, no intention involved in it.

"I hoped she would read it and come home. I was feeling that we needed to sort out our relationship."

The man was found on September 4 last year with the children, both aged under five, in his Renault Megane at Lydiard Park.

A vacuum cleaner pipe connected to the exhaust was jammed in the window.

Asked why he had used the pipe, he said: "It happened to be there on the floor. Instinctively I picked it up.

"I thought that it would just look silly. I guess when I picked up the Hoover pipe the thought came in my head to put it on to the exhaust to make the game look more realistic, to make it sound a lot worse, to make it look a lot worse.

"There was never any intention of anything being done.

"I was in the middle of some weird fantasy and I just felt it was part of my silly game.

"I hoped someone would come along and see it. It was just a big cry for help. A silly thing."

Asked how he felt about the break-up, he said: "I didn't want to move out of the family home. I love her to bits, I love my children to bits. We had a fantastic family home.

"My children mean the world to me, my children always come first."

The jury also heard yesterday that the dad and his two children would have been left with nothing more than minor headaches after his alleged attempt to kill them all.

Doctor Timothy Barlow from the Transport Research Laboratory said the fumes in the car were so low, because of the catalytic converter, that they could not have killed the three.

The defendant denies two charges of attempted murder and four counts of making a threat to kill.

  • The trial continues