A MILLIONAIRE businessman accused of murdering his wife broke down in tears in court yesterday as he gave evidence.

Ian Workman, 58, denies murdering Susan Workman, his wife of 34 years, at her Nursery Fold Plantation Road home in Tockholes on April 7.

The couple had three sons together.

Preston Crown Court heard he allegedly killed his wife after a row over money in their divorce, which was being finalised.

But a tearful Workman, of Vale Street, Turton, a former car dealership boss, said: “I would do anything to bring her back and just stuff the money.”

Mrs Workman died after suffering a single stab wound.

Workman claimed his wife came at him with the knife which had an eight inch blade.

He said he used his knowledge of martial arts to protect himself by standing behind her and placing his arm around her neck.

She was stabbed during his manoeuvre, the court heard.

Workman said that the marriage started to deteriorate around 2000 because he wanted to socialise more.

But the couple did not separate until around 2009.

He said: “I tried to get had to come out more. I tried to get her to corporate functions.

“She was a lovely girl but she was quite insular."

Workman said his bank accounts were frozen due to ongoing divorce proceedings.

He said: “I am sure she would have given me everything she had and I would have given her everything. I couldn't believe that is what she would do (freeze assets).”

Preston Crown Court heard Mrs Workman, 55, had got into debt and was going to have to fund an estimated £270,918.04 on legal fees by the time the divorce was due to be finalised.

The court heard she had been prescribed anti-depressants because of the stress she was under and had asked family to borrow £50,000.

Giving evidence, Workman said he thought the divorce could have been settled at a cost of £3,000.

He said: “I was resentful of those advising Sue.

“Your credibility just falls down, nobody wants to deal with you any more."

Workman had two on-going business ideas that had to be halted due to his assets being frozen.

He had planning permission for 36 apartments in Belmont Road and was due to launch a GPS tracking device, where people could locate people to one or two metres if they had the device on them.

He said until the divorce proceedings money had never been an issue between them.

He said: “We always promised each other that if things went wrong we would never cheat. We would always talk.”

(Proceeding)