‘What happened when you left Mrs Cameron’s house?’ Ben asked.
Henry took a deep breath.
‘We left together. I looked around. There was no sign of any trouble, no sign of any of her friends, so I thought I was all right. We were about to go our different ways, but we were still talking. We crossed over the street for some reason, towards that little mews area – I’m not sure why – and we were still talking.’
‘Talking about what? What was said?’
‘It was the same old stuff: I’m telling her all I want is custody; she’s saying she will never give me custody; I’m saying her lifestyle is dangerous for the children; she’s laughing at me, telling me to grow up. It’s the same stuff we were saying to Mrs Cameron, except the gloves came off once we were on our own, and it developed into an argument.’
‘How heated was it?’
‘Very heated. We were both very angry, and we were both very loud. I remember thinking, someone’s going to call the police if we go on like this. So I thought, this is pointless, I’m wasting my time, and I decided to leave and make my way back to work. And we had one last exchange of words.’
‘I’ll ask you in a moment about what was said in that last exchange of words, Mr Lang. I want to ask you this, first. Just answer yes or no. Did you say something to her, and did she say something to you?’
‘Yeah.’
‘After that exchange of words, what happened?’
He was silent for some time. Ben did not press him.
‘I don’t know what came over me. I lost all control. I wasn’t aware of what I was doing. The next thing I was aware of was the knife in my hand, and there being blood everywhere, and her lying on the ground.’
‘And then what?’
He shook his head.
‘I slumped down to the ground and sat there, and I couldn’t make my mind work, and I couldn’t make my body work. I just sat there.’
‘Did you intend to kill Susan?’
‘I don’t know what I intended. I had no control over what I was doing. One moment, she said something to me, and the next I was watching her bleeding to death.’
‘Did you react to what she said to you?’
‘Yeah.’
‘Mr Lang, please tell the jury what was said in that last exchange of words between you.’
‘I said: “Look, I can’t do this any more. You can have all the men and drugs you want. Just give me my children.”’
‘How did she respond?’
‘She said: “What makes you think they’re yours?”’