An amateur footballer accused of murdering Hollyoaks actress Amy Leigh Barnes told a jury today they had been engaged and tried for a baby.
Ricardo Morrison said he was in love with Miss Barnes and had been planning to buy her a ring when she was stabbed to death.
The 19-year-old actress and model died in hospital after being attacked repeatedly with a kitchen ! knife at her grandmother's house in Farnworth, near Bolton, Lancashire, on November 8 last year.
Accused: Ricardo Morrison told the court he had never been violent to girlfriend Amy Leigh Barnes,
Giving evidence in his trial at Manchester Crown Court, Morrison said the couple had ! prepared for a future together despite regular arguments in their nine-month relationship.
Morrison, 21, said: 'We were engaged - we were trying for a baby as well.'
Hannah Cutts, representing Morrison, asked: 'Was that a joint decision?'
Morrison replied: 'It started off as Amy's decision. We talked about it and then it became a joint decision.'
Miss Cutts asked: 'In the time that you were in a relationship with Amy, did you love her?'
Morrison responded: 'Very much so.'
Vi ctim: Amy Leigh Barnes was stabbed to death at her grandmother's home
Ricardo Morrison's policewoman mother Melda Wilks, 49, denies destroying evidence to help him
He agreed that the pair had argued constantly about money as well as when either of them went out at night separately.
'I was unhappy with some of the friends she was associating with,' he said.
He denied ever assaulting her, but told the court that Miss Barnes was once violent to him.
The model, who had appeared in the Channel 4 soap Hollyoaks and Nuts magazine, had blocked his path when he was attempting to get dressed to go out last July.
He said: 'Amy assaulted me before she blocked me. She took a swing and hit me in my privates.'
He admitted he had pushed her with some force during the ! incident.
But he told Miss Cutts that during their time together he had never punched her, threatened her with a knife or said he would strangle her with a flex of a mobile phone.
He also denied ever putting a pillow over her face, blackening her eye or locking her in a room.
Morrison, of Birmingham, has pleaded not guilty to murder.
His mother Melda Wilks, 49, of Rubery, a policewoman in the West Midlands force, denies assisting her son by destroying forensic evidence.
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