A WOMAN found stabbed in her own home yesterday denied that she attacked her ex-partner first.

Benjamin Thompson, 26, denies attempted murder after Harriet de Raeve, 22, was found with a six inch knife in her chest at the house they shared in Hurst Street, East Oxford, in April.

Ms de Raeve told the jury on Monday that Thompson stabbed her three times before plunging the knife into his stomach in an attempt to kill himself after their relationship ended.

Yesterday Peter Stage, defending, accused Ms de Raeve under cross-examination of launching the violent attack against Thompson in the couple’s bedroom.

He said: “You closed the door then you took a couple of steps towards him and stabbed him in the stomach and that’s how it started.

“He dropped the kitten he was holding and reacted and caught your arm to stop the knife going in all the way.

“You pushed the knife in far enough to get through the stomach wall and through the intestines.”

Ms de Reave replied: “I never touched the knife. I was on the floor with a knife in my chest.”

The trial continues.