A FATHER accused of murdering the mother of his three children seemed desperate to flee the North West, a court heard.

Joseph Davies, aged 36, is on trial charged with the murder of Kelly Davies.

The 31-year-old was found collapsed at her home in Queen Street, Farnworth.

She had 22 stab wounds to her face, neck and hands.

Ms Davies’ young daughter was found standing close to her mother, clutching her doll, by a family friend who made the grim discovery on June 4, last year when he went to the house to pick the pair up and take them to a party.

Davies, aged 36, Ms Davies’ ex-partner, denies her murder.

Yesterday Manchester Crown Court heard that he was seen on CCTV footage getting into a taxi in Lower Market Street, in Farnworth, shortly after Ms Davies was allegedly killed.

The jury of seven men and five women were shown footage of Davies, of no fixed address, getting into a taxi on Saturday, June 2 at 11.30pm.

A short time later he was seen on footage at Manchester Airport.

Monsef Romani, a traffic marshall at Manchester Airport, in a statement read out to the court, said: “At midnight a man came running over to me quite fast.

“He was very shaky and repeatedly said ‘I want a taxi’.

“I asked if he was okay and he said he was drunk but I couldn’t smell any alcohol.

“He wanted to go to either Birmingham or London. He didn’t want to wait seven-and-a-half hours for a cheap flight from Manchester to watch Euro 2012. I found it unusual that he didn’t negotiate a price to London with the driver.

“He didn’t have any luggage.

“All the time he was trying to act cool and calm.

“He was very nervous and itching to get going.

“There was something about his face that looked flushed.”

Hours later Davies was captured on CCTV footage at London’s St Pancras Station going through passport control then security.

Earlier in the trial the court had heard Davies was arrested in Holland after he was hit by a train, which resulted in part of his leg being amputated.

Giving evidence, Naomi Carter, forensic pathologist, said she went to examine Ms Davies’ body in the evening, hours after she was found.

She said Ms Davies would have died between Sunday at 2.30pm, and 4.30am on Monday, according to a table used by pathologists to determine time of death based on a number of factors.

The method was said to have a 95 per cent confidence rate.

But she said due to the confidence rate the times were “nothing more than estimates”.

She said: “I must say from looking at the body I had the impression that she had been dead rather longer than that.

“I can’t exclude that she could have been dead on the Saturday night.”

The case continues.