THE man accused of murdering Oxford academic Dr Barbara Johnston went on hunger strike and was deemed a suicide risk by doctors after he was arrested, a jury has been told.

Michael Humphries, 43, has denied stabbing, beating, strangling and suffocating Dr Johnston in her flat in Woodstock Close, Oxford, in January.

Humphries, of Ferndale Street, Faringdon, is on trial at Oxford Crown Court, where transcripts of police interviews were read out yesterday.

The court heard from a note made by a police officer on duty on January 30, about how Humphries said any blood found on clothes seized by police was his own because he had cut himself.

Julian Baughan, prosecuting, asked Det Con Philip Wenman, one of the officers involved in interviewing Humphries, about a doctor's assessment of the defendant.

Dc Wenman said: "He needed cell watch because he was deemed to be suicidal.

"He would have been in the cell with the door open with an officer sitting outside at all times."

Mr Baughan went through instances of Humphries being offered food and drink while in the cells but refusing them, saying he was on hunger strike.

He said doctors said Humphries had previously tried to hang himself.

The trial continues.