A WOMAN allegedly stabbed by her married ex-boyfriend would have taken just minutes to die, a court heard yesterday.

Katrina O’Hara, 44, died from two stab wounds sustained during an alleged attack by Stuart ‘George’ Thomas, 49, at Jock’s barbershop on January 7.

Thomas, of Salisbury Road in Blandford, denies murder.

Home Office pathologist Dr Russell Delaney confirmed Miss O’Hara suffered two significant wounds to her chest through her ribs and into her left lung.

“In doing so it caused significant damage to the major blood vessels in the lung,” he said. “It damaged a pulmonary vessel very close to where the lung joins to the heart.” A 19cm long orange blade - shown to jurors - could have been the weapon used, he said. Dr Delaney said Miss O’Hara also suffered “defensive-type” injuries to her hands and knee, demonstrating the actions to jurors.

“The damage to the left lung would have resulted in an immediate, severe haemorrhage,” he said. “As the bleeding continued she would have collapsed into unconsciousness with death occurring a short while later.”

William Mousley QC, defending, told the court Miss O’Hara suffered from depression.

Dr Kai Wong, Salisbury Hospital plastic surgeon registrar, operated on Thomas the day after the alleged incident. He told Winchester Crown Court that Thomas sustained two wounds to his left wrist – one of which was so deep that seven tendons, an artery and a nerve were badly damaged.

Marion Warren, a cleaner at the nearby dental surgery, said she heard “a heck of a scream” before seeing a man holding another tightly around the throat and waving something in the air, before running up the alleyway “as fast as he could”. She, and neighbours Thomas Nichols and Alice Williams, found Miss O’Hara lying on the floor inside the shop, covered in blood, before alerting the emergency services.

The trial continues.