Tracie Andrews left the witness-box and showed the jury how she still wore her ring

Tracie Andrews, accused of the roadside murder of her fiance, Lee Harvey, yesterday described their violent relationship and the "road- rage" race that led to his death. Testifying for the first time, she repeated her original claim that he was killed by the passenger of a Ford Sierra after a race down lanes.

Asked by defence counsel Ronald Thwaites QC if she killed Mr Harvey after a row, as the prosecution alleged, Miss Andrews replied: "No, I did not." Miss Andrews, 28, of Alvechurch, Worcestershire, told the jury at Birmingham Crown Court that her relationship with Mr Harvey, 25, was "very, very loving and stormy at times".

She described occasions when he had been violent. He also feared she might return to the father of her six-year-old daughter, Karla, Miss Andrews said. Miss Andrews said that after one of Mr Harvey's rages she aborted her baby, telling him she had had a miscarriage.

Miss Andrews, a former model, said that, despite the traumas, she loved Mr Harvey and tried to commit suicide two days after his murder because she could not live without him. She was allowed to leave the witness-box to show the jury she still wore her engagement ring.

Describing the events leading to Mr Harvey's death, she repeated the account she gave at a press conference after the killing. They had been to the Marlbrook pub, in Bromsgrove, on 1 December and were "on good terms", travelling home, when Mr Harvey began swearing at another driver after an encounter with a car near the M42 roundabout. "When the car came up at the side of us, Lee was doing gestures ... and I saw the passenger of the car also making gestures ..."

Mr Harvey let the other car pass at the top of Coopers Hill but it slowed and blocked the middle of the road. First the driver of the Sierra and Mr Harvey got out and shouted at one another, prodding with their fingers, but the other driver returned to his car. But the passenger, "a big man with staring eyes", got out and approached Mr Harvey, calling him a "Paki bastard". The court heard earlier that Mr Harvey had a swarthy complexion.

"I saw the passenger strike out at Lee. I can't be sure how many times, but I would say it was more than once," said Miss Andrews. "Lee fell down on to the floor and that's when I got out of the car ... Lee was lying flat; he had his top half up a bit. I would say he was supporting himself on his elbows as though he was lying on the beach. At that time the passenger was bent or crouched down by Lee."

She did not see any weapon and she denied she had been carrying a weapon. When she approached the man, he called her a "slut" and punched her in the eye. The driver was shouting "Come on, Jez, leave it."

Miss Andrews said she heard Mr Harvey make a gurgling noise and she covered him with her coat and rested his head. "I ... I really did not know what had happened to Lee. I knew he was in a bad way but it all just happened to quickly. I can't recall everything that happened. It's as though it was in a dream. I can remember saying 'Why can't I cry?' And I can remember saying 'Twenty-five minutes ago we were in the pub'."

Under cross-examination by David Crigman QC for the prosecution, Miss Andrews denied she had changed the route of the road-rage chase because no one had reported seeing the "phantom" Sierra.

The case continues.