Rahan Arshad denies four counts of murder

Rahan Arshad, 36, told Manchester Crown Court he could not remember bludgeoning his wife Uzma, 32, with a rounders bat and denied killing his children.

During cross-examination, he said found the bodies of Adam, 11, Abbas, eight and Henna, two, in their playroom.

Mr Arshad, of Turves Road, denies four counts of murder.

He said he blanked out and came round sitting in the bath with the 1.5ft long bat which had been used to beat the four victims to death.

Mr Arshad told the court: "I don't know what happened. I came downstairs after and saw the children and burst out crying."

The family's bodies lay undiscovered for almost a month

Asked what he recollected from the attack on his wife, he replied: "I just blanked out. I can't remember."

The bodies of his wife and children were very badly decomposed when they were eventually found about a month after their deaths.

Mr Arshad had flown to Thailand after their deaths, before being arrested on 30 August at the Thai-Malaysian border and flown back to the UK.

Shortly after being arrested he told police: "I confess to the murder. My beautiful kids. I don't regret killing that bitch, but my kids, killing my kids..."

Asked what he had meant, Mr Arshad, who said he was "physically and mentally drained", told the court: "I meant she had killed my kids. I was still in shock. I didn't kill my kids."

The trial, before Mr Justice David Clarke, was adjourned until Monday.