Murder accused had reconciliation hopes
But while being quizzed by police about the killing of hairdresser Sarah Richardson, he said the split had been "a big mistake".
Richardson described how he stabbed his wife in a frenetic knife assault in her bedroom at her parents' home in Brown Lees.
In statements read to the jury at Stafford Crown Court he said he wanted to talk to her about getting back together.
She would not answer the door, so he broke in using a hammer and found her in the bedroom.
"I think it spooked her a bit, it was just the look on her face.
"I think she didn't expect me in the house.
"I was going to take the knife out and slash my wrists, cut my throat in front of her.
"She lurched at me, came at me, screaming at me.
"She was in bed, sitting upright, then started screaming at me 'get out, get out'.
"I go and get the knife out, then she came at me and that's when I stabbed her."
Asked where he had knifed her, Richardson replied: "I really don't know, because she was screaming.
"I really don't know what I did, I don't know whether I have stabbed her in the body or what.
"Everything happened just that quick and it was that frenetic.
"From then on I don't really remember much at all, apart from looking down at her – she was lying on the floor – and thinking 'Oh my God, what have I done?'
"I could see she was poorly, that's when I fled."
Richardson told the police he drove to a hill near Mow Cop and climbed over a fence.
"I walked along to find a nice quiet place where I could sit down and kill myself."
The jury have heard that Richardson was later found with slashes to his neck and wrists and was treated in hospital.
Richardson, aged 41, of Mayfield Road, Biddulph, denies a charge of murder.
He went on to tell the police about his relationship with Sarah and their split.
He said she had been on anti-depressants, prone to self harm and they both took cocaine.
Asked what had caused the split up of the relationship, Richardson said: "I couldn't understand where all the money goes, things are not getting paid, you start quibbling about things and then it comes to a head.
"We hadn't got money for the rent and I asked why.
"The reason was because she spent it on cocaine.
"I asked her to move out, three or four weeks ago, because I'm thinking we'll never have any money, I don't know where it's all going, we'll never have anything to show for it."
Sarah went back to live with her parents, although they still spent some nights together.
"I was in pieces. It was a big mistake, I didn't want to lose her, I wanted her to come back," Richardson told the officers.
The trial has heard how the death happened the day after Sarah changed her personal profile on Facebook from "married" to "single".
The trial continues.
