Horse trainer, 70, stabbed husband, 72, in the back with a knife before begging her to pull the knife out and died of shock injuries

A horse trainer stabbed her husband in the back before begging her to pull it out, a court heard yesterday.

Christine Rawle, 70, is said to have stabbed “defenceless” Ian Rawle, 72, after an argument at their remote bungalow in north Devon.

Christine Rawle, 70, is accused of murdering her husband after an argument at their North Devon home in 2022Credit: Facebook

The court heard that during the argument, Rawle picked up a 'large sharp knife' and stabbed it into her husband's back — The court heard that during the argument, Rawle picked up a ‘large sharp knife’ and stabbed it into her husband’s backCredit: Apex

As Mr Rawle lay dying, she “kicked” the knife “under the stable door” before sitting down and waiting for emergency services – who her daughter had called – to arrive.

Opening the case on Monday, prosecutor Sean Brunton QC said the couple had a ‘somewhat dysfunctional’ relationship which he likened to ‘The Twits’.

He told Exeter Crown Court how on Sunday, August 24, 2022, the couple had argued over the sale of a small plot of land because the defendant wanted the money for eye surgery “come hell or high water”.

During the argument, Rawle picked up a “large sharp knife” and “in a fit of rage, without warning, she stabbed it into his back as he walked away.”

Mr Brunton added: “[She] had the knife stuck in his back as she walked away while her husband followed her and begged her to pull the knife out of his back.”

The court heard Mr Rawle followed his wife for about 100 yards across their land in Kittywell Wood, Knowle, before pulling it out.

He “fell to the ground” and died a short time later “from the wound caused by that stab,” Brunton said.

The mother-of-three, who described herself on social media as a ‘registered horse trainer’ and is known as ‘the horse whisperer’, will claim she was the victim of a ‘controlling and coercive’ relationship.

But Mr Brunton told the court the alleged attack was “as clear a case of murder as you are likely to find”, adding that Rawle “may be a complex, troubled and somewhat devious woman”.

In a fit of rage, she stabbed him in the back without warning as he walked away

Prosecutor Sean Brunton KC

He added “if anyone was the bully, we say it was this woman right here,” although her husband “was no saint, far from it.”

Rawle has no psychiatric condition that could excuse her from allegedly killing “this unarmed, unprepared, 72-year-old man,” he told jurors.

Rawle – married to her husband for 29 years – had stabbed him twice with a fork and once with a knife before killing him, the court heard.

Jurors also heard how she stalked her husband and ‘stole’ him from his previous partner after buying a car from his garage.

They married in 1995, when he was 45 and she was 41, with three children from a previous relationship.

In 2003, Mr Rawle transferred his property and a small 50-acre farm he owned into joint ownership with his wife – it is now worth around £800,000.

The trial was postponed until Tuesday morning.