The day my Jacob died

Mary Wragg forced back tears while giving evidence against her husband Andrew Wragg, who denies murdering their son Jacob at the family home in Henty Close, Worthing, on July 24 last year.

Wragg, 37, admits killing the 10-year-old, who was suffering from Hunter syndrome, a rare degenerative disease, but claims it was manslaughter due to diminished responsibility.

Lewes Crown Court fell silent as Mrs Wragg, dressed in a black suit and wearing a blue ribbon with a lock of Jacob's hair, took to the witness box on Tuesday.Entering the court packed with reporters, Mrs Wragg ignored her husband in the dock as his eyes followed her across the room. Clutching a child's dummy and looking at photographs of her dead son, she told a jury of three men and nine women her husband had said he would kill Jacob if his suffering became too much.

Mrs Wragg, 41, recalled a conversation the couple had with the mother of another sick child while they were visiting Jacob in hospital in Manchester.

"This woman said she wished the doctors would leave her daughter alone because she felt they were keeping her alive, causing unnecessary pain. I clearly remember Andy saying to her if he thought Jacob was suffering he would put a pillow over his face. I felt it was something he said to deal with the difficulty of the situation because he felt powerless to provide an answer or a solution for the problem."

Mrs Wragg painted a complex picture of the couple's turbulent 13-year marriage, which ended in divorce. The couple separated but got back together in 1996, two years before their second son George was born. Mrs Wragg said her husband, who was a heavy drinker, had difficulties, including embarrassment, dealing with their first-born son's illness and walked out on the family in 1999. She told the court Wragg was "not tolerant" when it came to Jacob's care.

"On the times he was involved I found it very stressful. He would get angry with doctors if they weren't doing things a certain way," she said.

Divorce proceedings began but, in 2002, the couple again put aside their troubles in a bid to save their marriage.

When asked by prosecutor Philip Katz how often the children saw their father during the couple's three-year separation, Mrs Wragg replied: "It was entirely up to him. When he felt like it, he would visit as and when it suited him. I could not rely on him for child or financial support. The day-to-day care, he just didn't have the patience, he wasn't really terribly hands-on or interested in attending medical meetings. He just wasn't really tolerant of all the extras that had to go into Jacob's care. I was always Jacob's main carer because Andy found certain aspects quite difficult."

In early 2004, with the relationship again deteriorating, Wragg spent four-and-a-half months in Iraq, working as a security guard. He flew back on July 9, but only returned to the family home two days later, after staying out drinking with friends. Mrs Wragg said: "I wasn't terribly impressed because the relationship had been deteriorating for many months and it was obvious it wasn't going to work out."

In the days that followed, Wragg was out drinking frequently, until July 20 when there was another argument.

The following day Mrs Wragg attended a meeting at the house to discuss Jacob's care, while Wragg laid in bed watching videos instead of looking after six-year-old George.

Doctors told Mrs Wragg when they diagnosed Jacob with the disease he would go blind, deaf and dumb and not live beyond his early teens. At the time she was seven months pregnant with another child but doctors advised she had an abortion as it, too, had the disease.The still-born baby, which the couple called Henry, was given a funeral.

Despite doctors' fears, Mrs Wragg was "proud" that Jacob had reached double figures.

On the day he died, she described her son as "lively and active" as he enjoyed a hot dog and a walk at a seafront fair in Worthing.

"Jacob was strong and able, taking his difficulties into account. He chose the lunch he wanted and fed himself. Early that morning he had got up and stolen biscuits from the barrel and put on his favourite video."