A MAN accused of murdering his girlfriend before leaving their baby daughter alone with her body has told a jury he never meant to hurt her.
VICTIM Lynn Savery and her daughter Mia.
Ashfaq Khan, 25, said he believed teenage mum Lynn Savery was unconscious but still alive when he left her home after putting a hand on her throat during a row.
He told Manchester Crown Court: "I kept my hand there until she stopped screaming. I saw blood coming out of the side of her mouth. She was gasping for breath as if she was drowning."
Khan told the jury that after wiping Miss Savery&apos;s mouth with a kitchen towel he apologised to her then left the house.
He said it was only hours later, when he got no response to phone calls and text messages, that he thought she might be dead.
"I didn&apos;t go to the police because I was scared they would not believe it was an accident," he added.
Khan was giving evidence at the trial in which he has admitted the manslaughter of Miss Savery at her home in Chelsea Avenue, Radcliffe.
The prosecution claim Khan, who was two-timing the victim with another teenager, Zoe Bradley, with whom he had son, strangled Miss Savery the day after their daughter Mia&apos;s first birthday.
Earlier the trial heard Miss Bradley, 19, has pledged to stand by Khan.
In the witness box she said: "I still love him and want to build my future with him. I have been visiting him in prison and taking Tahir to see him. I like to think he loves me."
After the killing Khan, who divided his time between his two girlfriends&apos; homes and that of his parents in New Cateaton Street, Bury, went to Miss Bradley&apos;s home in Horridge Street, Tottington and confessed to her he had &apos;done something really, really bad&apos;.