A 19-STONE fitness enthusiast relived the fatal fight with his girlfriend in their Huddersfield home.

Julian Joseph told a murder trial jury how he had a row with his girlfriend after she came home from a night out and woke him up.

Joseph, who worked out three times a week and could lift 190 kilograms, has denied murdering 24-year-old Anna Backhouse at their Birkby home last May.

And yesterday he described how they started bickering in the early hours.

The 27-year-old, of Spinkfield Road, Birkby, was arrested and charged with murder after Miss Backhouse was pronounced dead in their bedroom.

A post mortem later revealed 83 separate external injuries to Miss Backhouse's head and body, and she had also suffered 15 fractured ribs and a fatal tear to her liver.

Joseph, who was giving evidence in the witness box all day, explained how they had both gone out separately that night and he had been drinking in Wakefield with a friend before returning home in the early hours.

He said he went to sleep straight away, but was then woken by the sound of something being knocked off a dressing table in the bedroom.

Joseph said the light was on and his girlfriend ignored him when he asked her to turn it down.

He admitted feeling a bit annoyed at being woken up and then described how Miss Backhouse, who he said was drunk, kept sitting on his leg.

"I said I wanted to go to sleep," he told Bradford Crown Court. "She ignored me."

Joseph claimed that they were both "winding each other up" and he told the jury how he grabbed his girlfriend's throat after she stood on his toes with her shoes.

He described Miss Backhouse as getting mad after he pushed her to the floor. He accepted repeatedly throwing her down.

Joseph claimed that the couple then threw deodorant cans at each other before he ended up falling on top of her.

"She was unsteady on her feet and still shouting and coming towards me.

"I swung her round again. At some time I stumbled and we both fell over.

"I don't know exactly how but I know I fell on top of her."

Joseph claimed that as he got up Miss Backhouse grabbed his leg and boxer shorts and he "dropped his knee" on to her to get her off.

He told the jury that by that stage he had not seen any injuries on his girlfriend, but after they had been talking for about an hour the row started up again.

"I was picking some stuff up off the floor. She jumped on my back. I stumbled and fell against the bed. I remember being winded. We were both winded. I got back up, she just stayed down," said Joseph.

He claimed Miss Backhouse again came towards him, but this time, after he threw her to the floor, he noticed some blood on her head.

The court heard that Miss Backhouse was lying on the floor crying and after Joseph had tried to wipe off some of the blood he went downstairs to put the bloodied duvet in the washing machine.

"When I came back into the bedroom she was breathing funny, wheezing. She'd turned on her side. I called her name. She didn't answer."

Joseph accepted giving Miss Backhouse a "backhander", but denied suggestions that he had punched, kicked or stamped on his girlfriend that night.

Under cross-examination by prosecuting barrister Simon Bourne-Arton QC, Joseph said he regretted what had happened, but maintained that he did not believe the incident was serious until near the end.

"When she had 15 fractured ribs, 15 Mr Joseph, did she say that hurts? When she had three cuts to the back of her head did she say words to the effect that hurts?" Mr Bourne-Arton asked.

"No she didn't say that hurts," replied Joseph.

He said he was shocked to hear about the 15 fractured ribs and maintained that he did not realise his actions would have caused such injuries.

The trial continues.