A former Team GB runner today admitted throwing a pillow at his wife during an argument over him using a noisy electric toothbrush while their young children slept.

But Curtis Robb denied using it to suffocate her, telling a court: ‘There’s no way I would want to harm the mother of my children.’

The 54-year-old, who qualified as a surgeon after competing in two Olympics, said he feared he would ‘get an injury’ when his wife Sarah confronted him during a family holiday in the Lake District.

He reacted by ‘pushing’ the GP with his free hand, causing her to ‘topple’ back onto the bed, he said, before picking up a pillow and throwing it at her.

Robb is on trial accused of subjecting the 47-year-old to a catalogue of 'cruel' behaviour.

She last week told Chester Crown Court that she could not breathe when he allegedly held the pillow over her face, saying she was ‘in fear of my life’.

Ms Robb - now known as Sarah Caddy - said the alleged incident during the Easter holidays in 2023 was the 'final straw' after eight years of violence and control, and made her realise she was 'going to end up dead' if she didn't go to the police.

Giving evidence in his defence today, Robb – who competed in the 800m at the Barcelona and Atlanta games in the 1990s – said the row was prompted by him using an electric toothbrush while their three children were asleep.

He told jurors she confronted him, saying: ‘I can’t believe you’ve done that.’

Robb said he was ‘worried that the toothbrush is going to go in my mouth’ and was going to ‘get an injury’.

‘So I switched hands and pushed her back. She toppled back onto the bed.

‘I swallowed the toothpaste, put the toothbrush down, I picked up a pillow at the end of the bed and threw it at her.’

Asked by Martine Snowdon, defending, if he had held the pillow over her face, Robb replied: ‘I certainly did not.’

According to prosecutors, previous incidents included Robb grabbing her by the neck and pushing her into a pair of French windows.

He also allegedly shoved her into a banister making her fear she would be thrown down the stairs.

However after being arrested, Robb told police ‘it was the other way round’ and that it was his wife who would regularly ‘start hitting me’.

Today the former runner denied ever having been violent towards his wife, saying the only times he had used force against her were ‘self-defence’.

He said she would constantly have ‘gripes’ about him not doing enough to help around the house or with their children.

Robb said he tried to ‘reason’ with her but it never ‘got through’.

After throwing the pillow at her, he said he told her ‘I’ve had enough of you’ and went to sleep in the living room.

But after realising that ‘I haven’t done anything wrong’ he went back upstairs and told her he wanted a divorce.

Cross-examined by prosecutor Paulinus Barnes, Robb denied holding the pillow over her face.

‘There’s no way I would want to harm the mother of my children,’ he said.

Asked why he did not respond when she sent him a lengthy message accusing him of ‘physically assaulting me while I’m lying in bed’, Robb said the accusation was ‘rubbish’.

‘It was just going to escalate and I’m a de-escalator,’ he added.

‘How does throwing a pillow de-escalate?’ Mr Barnes asked.

Robb replied: ‘I am human.’

A former British champion, Robb's best Olympics result was in Barcelona in 1992, where he finished sixth in the 800m final.

In 1996 he was eliminated in the semi-final, later qualifying as a doctor.

Robb, of Northwich, Cheshire, denies one charge of controlling and coercive behaviour in a family setting and a second charge of suffocation.

The trial continues.