A MUM accused of murdering her infant daughter by drowning her in a bath leapt from her seat as prosecutors alleged she made a 'full confession' to the killing.

Former science teacher Claire Colebourn, 36, sobbed in the dock as extracts of a police interview were read aloud to jurors. The defendant denies murdering daughter Bethan Colebourn, three, at their home in Whitsbury Road, Fordingbridge on October 19 2017.

When police rushed to the property, they found Bethan dead and Colebourn in a diabetic coma.

An interview the defendant allegedly gave to police six months after her arrest was read out to jurors at Winchester Crown Court yesterday.

During the interview, Colebourn allegedly said she intended to kill herself as her domestic situation was getting "worse and worse". She had split with husband Michael Colebourn around a month before Bethan's death, it was heard.

As jurors heard prosecutors' allegations, a distressed Colebourn leapt from her seat and told the court she "needed to get out".

It had been heard she wrongly believed her former husband, 38, was having an affair with a work colleague.

Prosecutor Kerry Maylin claimed Colebourn told police: "Bethan drowned and I am responsible for her death. She drowned and I am responsible, fully responsible.

"I was there, I held her under the water.

"I woke up, I went upstairs, I think Bethan was waking and I ran a bath. [Bethan] went in and I held her under the water's surface.

"Why did I do that? Because I didn't want her to go anywhere near her father. Whether that was right or wrong, that is desperate times for you."

She claimed she was "fearful" of her husband's "emotional abuse" and "didn't want him to do it to Bethan", it was said.

Ms Maylin alleged Colebourn said: "My only thought was keeping Bethan safe.

"I thought 'this is just getting worse and worse'. I decided that was it, I was going to give up."

After the prosecution's claims, Colebourn rushed from her seat to a corner of the dock. Jurors were told by judge Mrs Justice Cutts the defendant was "distressed" and had been allowed to take a break.

They have heard police rushed to the family's converted bungalow after being called by Colebourn's distraught mother.