Jealous husband stabbed his estranged wife to death in front of their daughter

A HUSBAND stabbed to death his estranged wife after wrongly believing she was pregnant with another man's child.

James McKenzie attacked Denise Grieve, 48, in front of their teenage daughter at her flat in Glenrothes, Fife in March.

McKenzie, 61, later told police he was happy he was the last person she saw.

He faces life in jail after yesterday admitting to the murder at the High Court in Glasgow.

He and his wife split up in October, having been in a previously stormy relationship. Although they moved to separate addresses, McKenzie believed "they remained very much a couple".

In February, he became jealous when he found Ms Grieve was seeing Robert Graham, whom she had dated in the past.

The court heard McKenzie had once prowled Mr Graham's garden hoping to see his wife. It was soon after this that Mr Graham decided to end the relationship with Ms Grieve. McKenzie then moved back into the family home in Ednam Drive.

On the morning of 15 March, Ms Grieve told McKenzie she did not want to get back together. While his wife went for a bath, McKenzie approached their 19-year-old daughter. She thought he was going to cuddle her, but instead he grabbed her briefly around the throat and said: "Change of plan — you are all coming with me."

Ms Grieve was sitting on the stairs, having left the bath, and McKenzie stabbed her. Their daughter phoned police, who found Ms Grieve lying on a bed with a knife in her chest.

McKenzie should have appeared in the dock on 9 June, but he was unfit to plead following a failed attempt to take his own life days earlier in HMP Edinburgh.

Judge Lord Turnbull adjourned the case until next month, when McKenzie will learn the punishment part of his life sentence.