A man who stabbed his girlfriend to death today told a court he “lost control completely” after she threatened him with a knife and called him a “cry baby”.

Pawel Sroka, 33, claimed Joanna Trojniak taunted him about being upset about the end of their relationship, sparking a fatal confrontation in their house in Meadvale Road, Addiscombe.

Sroka has admitted knifing the 29-year-old restaurant worker to death before turning the blade on himself and calling 999 on March 23 this year.

Friends and colleagues told the Old Bailey last week that "sensitive" and "shy" Ms Trojniak was scared of her “aggressive and overpowering” boyfriend and feared he would kill her if she tried to leave him.

But giving evidence today, Sroka claimed his partner had first attacked him.

RELATED: Woman stabbed to death by 'jealous' boyfriend 'did not want to get him in trouble with police'

The former construction worker also described how he “wanted to die” and tried to kill himself after realising what he had done.

Sroka has admitted manslaughter but denies murder on the grounds of loss of control.

The court heard how the couple had argued throughout the day via text messages after Sroka intercepted a letter from the Post Office that revealed Ms Trojniak had redirected her mail as a precursor to moving out.

While waiting for Ms Trojniak to return home from work at Nando’s in Colliers Wood, Sroka took a bath and drunk nearly a whole bottle of wine because he felt “anxious and stressed” – the first alcohol he had consumed “in a number of years,” he told the jury.

After Ms Trojniak returned home the pair argued through the locked door of the bathroom before he got out of the bath and went downstairs to the living room, the court heard.

Sroka told the court: “Joanna was sitting on the couch with her phone in her right and with her left hand behind her. Then all of a sudden she started to shout, 'You idiot, you opened my letter, you shouldn't do that'.

He said Ms Trojniak told him she was going to leave him, adding: “She started to call me pathetic and said, 'Are you going to cry like when your mum died, are you going to cry?'”

When asked by his lawyer Michael Turner if he responded to the taunts, Sroka said: "I just told her to ‘shut up, you don't tell anything about my mum, you shouldn't do that, just give me a reason why you want to leave me’.”

He said he took two steps towards Ms Trojniak “to be closer to her” – before she sprang up from the couch and brandished a red kitchen knife in her left hand.

He told the court: “I must say she was laughing at that moment… She actually wanted to hurt me I think.”

Giving evidence to the court last week, a number of Ms Trojniak’s friends described her as possessing “absolutely no temper” and denied ever hearing her raise her voice.

Sroka said he wrestled the knife away from Ms Trojniak, receiving a cut on his hand.

He continued: "I had a knife in my hand, and Joanna was still shouting something about my mum, I can't remember what, and she hit me close to the face.

"And then I think I just completely lost myself.”

Asked by Mr Turner whether he remembered stabbing Ms Trojniak, Sroka said: "No, I can't remember what I was doing at that moment."

"All of a sudden I realised I was standing in the middle of the room with the knife in my right hand and I could see Joanna sitting on the couch. She was bleeding and I realised I had done something really bad because nobody else was there, and I was shouting 'Oh my god, what have I done?’.

"And then Joanna just slipped down to the floor… I tried to calm her down and I put her in the foetal position because I knew that was the best way if you are trying to save anybody.”

After failing to find his mobile phone Sroka ran upstairs to use the landline, returning with a towel, scarves and socks to try and stem his girlfriend’s bleeding, the court heard.

He said he had called 999 and stayed on the line long enough the give the operator the couple’s address before cutting the call and returning to Ms Trojniak.

Sroka added: “I grabbed her face and I kissed her, saying 'I'm sorry'.

"I wanted to die at that moment, yes.”

After stabbing himself twice in the chest, Sroka said he decided to drive to another place in the borough to kill himself.

But officers arrested him in nearby Gordon Crescent at about 10.30pm after finding him bleeding in the driver's seat of his Vauxhaull Vectra, having soiled himself.

He told the court: “I was feeling very weak and lost a lot of blood and started to vomit and was losing consciousness, so I decided I can't drive, I'm not going to get there, so I just have to stop somewhere where I could die.”

The trial continues.

Got a story? Call the newsdesk on 020 8722 6388 or email daniel.omahony@newsquest.co.uk