Soldier on trial accused of Gateshead murder

The trial of a soldier accused of murdering his ex-girlfriend has heard she was found with her throat cut from ear to ear'' after she ended the relationship with her controlling and manipulative partner.

A jury was played the 999 call when Alice Ruggles' flatmate found her blue'' and covered in blood on the bathroom floor of the Gateshead home they shared.

In that call, Newcastle Crown Court heard Maxine McGill named Lance Corporal Trimaan Harry'' Dhillon as the suspect.

Dhillon, who was a serving soldier with the 2 Scots with hopes of joining the special forces and who lived in barracks outside Edinburgh, denies murder.

Ms McGill came home to their flat in Rawling Road, Bensham, last October and found the front door locked.

After shouting for Ms Ruggles to let her in, she climbed a wall into their back yard and got in through an open window.

She found her friend lying on the bathroom floor literally covered in blood,'' Richard Wright QC told the jury.

The prosecutor said Ms McGill immediately knew Ms Ruggles was dead.

He said: She had suffered horrendous injuries she could not have survived.

Someone had slit her throat open from ear to ear, leaving her neck wide open.''

Mr Wright said the victim bled to death on the bathroom floor.

He played the 999 call in which Ms McGill appeared extremely distressed and breathed heavily, sometimes calling out her friend's name.

At one point she said: It looks like she's been attacked. Please help.''

She told the call handler Ms Ruggles had reported having trouble with her ex-boyfriend Dhillon, claiming she had called 101 in the past.

Mr Wright said the flatmate had good reason to name Dhillon, who was charged under his first name Trimaan.

He said: Maxine had seen the obsessive and manipulative manner in which Dhillon had harassed and stalked Alice in the weeks and months before her death.

She had seen first hand how Alice's happy, bubbly demeanour had changed over time.''

Ms Ruggles was from Leicestershire and stayed in Newcastle after finishing her degree at Northumbria University in product design.

The fun-loving'' Sky employee was short and slightly built, weighing nine and a half stone and was 5ft 2in, Mr Wright said.

Dhillon was tall, powerfully-built and was a signaller with his regiment who had passed some of the courses to join the special forces, the jury heard.

Trimaan Dhillon, 25, denies her murder .

The trial continues.