A man accused of pushing his girlfriend to her death through a 14th floor window broke down in court as he gave his version of events.

David Douglas, 44, denies murdering 43-year-old Dora Matthews by shoving her through the living room window of his flat in Wood Green.

Today he wept while giving evidence at Southwark Crown Court as he described finding Ms Matthews’ body on the ground outside his building.

He told jurors the pair had been taking drugs before she started ‘ranting and raving’ in his flat, prompting him to leave the room.

Turning to the victim’s family in the public gallery, he said: “That’s the last time I saw your mum.”

Douglas said that after ‘one or two’ minutes of quiet he returned to find Ms Matthews missing.

He said: “I went back into the living room to see if she was alright and that was it. There wasn’t anyone there.

“The window was closed. I think it was closed; half-closed. I thought she was playing about, to tell you the truth.

“I didn’t believe what was happening.

"Even when I went downstairs I was hoping I was going to go down there and see no one, but I didn’t.”

Prosecutors say Ms Matthews’ body was found by a passer-by walking across the car park to the block of flats shortly before 5am.

Douglas said he had found the body but claimed he had been unable to dial 999 and so asked the passer-by to call for an ambulance.

He said: “My hands were shaking. I couldn’t phone at all.

“I went back to where Dora was and I said, ‘Look, please call an ambulance’. I said I can’t look at it. I saw what I saw and I didn’t want to see any more.”

Douglas told the court he had spent £100 that night on cocaine, which the pair had been taking together.

He said Ms Matthews became angry when she ran out of skunk cannabis and wanted to go looking for some in the early hours.

Jurors were played CCTV footage showing the pair exiting and returning to the flat multiple times on the night.

Prosecutors say neighbours heard shouting shortly before Ms Matthews died as the pair had been arguing.

But Douglas told the court they had merely been ‘play-fighting’ in the hallway and he had not participated in any shouting in the flat.

He said: “The funny thing is I wasn’t arguing. She was arguing. It’s like she was arguing with no one.

“With this rowing the neighbours keep saying they were hearing, Dora’s voice goes beyond loud, so it could sound like an argument when it was just her expressing her feelings.”

He said he had pulled her in from outside the window earlier that night.

He said: “She was on the window ledge with two feet on the inside ledge, in some funny, dodgy position.

“I don’t even know how she ended up in that position. I don’t know how she did it.”

He added: “I pulled her back in and she started saying ‘let go of me’ and stamping her feet. I said ‘please can you stop this and can you go to bed’.

“She said ‘no, leave me alone’ and that’s it – I just walked.”

During today’s hearing, Douglas had to be told by judge May to refrain from addressing others in the courtroom, as he blasted police for being ‘corrupt’.

He claimed footprints had been wiped from his window ledge and CCTV footage that could help his case was being withheld.

He shouted: “There’s a third camera that they [police] have withheld from the jury.

“Everything in my favour in this case they have hidden it. They think they’re smart. They’re corrupt.”

Douglas, of Wood Green, north London, denies a single count of murder in December 2013.

The trial continues.