A grandfather who thought he was going to die tried to murder his granddaughter to take her with him, a jury heard on Monday.

Brian Boswell is accused of having tried to strangle, stab and suffocate Kirsty Woodward, telling her: “We are going to die together.”

St Albans Crown Court heard from the defence that the 75-year-old’s attack at his Stevenage flat was ‘out of character’ and he did it because he believed doctors were about to tell him he was terminally ill.

Mr Boswell, now of Barons Court in Failsworth, Manchester, denies attempted murder and making threats to kill Ms Woodward on March 5, 2015.

Prosecutor Simon Wilshire said in 2010 Ms Woodward contacted Mr Boswell in Manchester after discovering he was her biological paternal grandfather. In November 2014 he moved to a flat in Leaves Spring, Stevenage, to be near her and her children.

He was supportive of the family and even gave her away at her wedding.

But Mr Boswell had undergone a triple heart bypass operation and had heard he had an appointment at a hospital in Manchester on March 11.

On March 5, after making a cup of tea, he is alleged to have leant over Ms Woodward as if to give her a cuddle.

Mr Wilshire said: “He put both his hands around her throat and pushed her down so she was lying down on the sofa. She felt the pressure build on the front of her throat.

“She said, ‘What are you doing grandad?’

“He replied, ‘We are going to die together’.”

When she got one hand free, the court heard how he pulled out a kitchen knife which Ms Woodward held onto as they wrestled it. The grandfather punched her in the face and is alleged to have said, “You are going to die quietly.”

He then allegedly produced an ASDA carrier bag from behind a cushion and held it towards her face. She got free and ran down the road to her grandmother’s home in the same road.

Police later recovered a roll of tape from the flat with Mr Boswell’s fingerprint on.

In the witness box, Ms Woodward said she had searched out her grandfather on Facebook and sent him a message. She said the relationship developed well and they would visit each other, adding: “We were really close. Very often he would come down. He would stay at my house. I loved him.”

In September 2014 he contributed £7,000 to her wedding and gave her away. Two months later he moved to Stevenage. She said: “I would see him every day. Every Sunday he used to come to my mother-in-law’s for dinner.”

The trial continues.