A WOMAN who denies murdering a man from Banbury has pleaded guilty to manslaughter.

Oxford Crown Court heard yesterday that Natasha Capell, 26, of the town’s Jubilee Court, has pleaded not guilty to murdering Kyle Byfield, 23, at an address in the street on April 16.

Mr Byfield died at the Horton Hospital on April 16 after he was stabbed in the chest.

After the trial opened yesterday Capell pleaded guilty to the lesser count of manslaughter.

Adrian Redgrave, defending, told the jury: “The basis on which the defendant has pleaded guilty to manslaughter is that she accepts it was her action swinging the knife that caused the death of Kyle Byfield. She accepts there was no lawful justification for that action.

“She accepts that all sober and reasonable people would inevitably realise that her action must have subjected Kyle Byfield at least to the risk of some injury caused.

“She does not accept that in doing so she had any intention to do really serious injury or to kill, and it is that intention that is at the centre of what the jury will have to decide.”

The trial, before Judge Patrick Eccles, continues today.