A MAN who denies the murder of his wife’s lover has revealed that she nearly died shortly after their son was born.

Steven Cotterill, 39, of Brinton Close, Widnes, told a jury at Chester Crown Court that his wife Natasha had epilepsy.

The 32-year-old had suffered a number of seizures, the court heard.

“She had fits during pregnancy,” said Cotterill.

“There was concern.”

Their son was a healthy baby, he said, when he was born in December 2014.

“After a couple of days she felt ill and was taken into hospital by ambulance,” he added.

“She nearly died. She had a number of seizures. I was traumatised.

“She came home and was put on medication.”

Natasha’s mum moved into their house and stayed with them until March 5, a week before the alleged murder.

The couple started living together in their 20s and married in 2011.

They found a buyer for their house in July, 2015 and planned to move to Northwich but the sale fell through.

Cotterill said there had been tension in their marriage since October last year.

When he suspected Natasha might be seeing someone at work in December, she denied it saying ‘they were just good friends’.

When she admitted the affair with work colleague Mr Charnock in January, Cotterill said: “She said she had slept with someone else. It was a mistake.”

He told the court he was so distraught, he left the family home to stay with his parents for a few weeks but came back to try and salvage their marriage.

The couple shared a short break in Lancashire to celebrate his birthday and visited Natasha’s sister in Portugal 10 days before the alleged fatal attack.

Cotterill said he thought the affair was over.

The jury is expected to be sent out to deliberate later this week.