Slain Actor James Handy's Girlfriend Details Moments Leading Up to Fatal Stabbing

Slain actor James Handy's longtime girlfriend says she's shocked by his fatal stabbing ... because his final morning began like so many before ... then ended in tragedy.

Wendy Gledhill -- James' partner of more than 30 years -- spoke to the Daily Mail about her son allegedly stabbing James to death ... and she says she didn't even realize anything was wrong until cops knocked on her door.

Wendy explains James usually got up, made coffee, and grabbed the newspaper ... though, on the day he was killed, she notes he went out to get the paper without starting the brew.

She says ... "I can only assume my son was already out there and they started to argue, from my understanding, on the front yard."

Cops found James in Wendy's front yard with a fatal stab wound and prosecutors charged Wendy's son -- 44-year-old Michael Gledhill -- with one count of murder with a special allegation that he personally used a deadly weapon, a knife.

Wendy says cops came to the door about 30 minutes after she heard James go out to get the paper ... adding officers told her to stay inside because they "thought there was still someone dangerous outside."

Michael lived at James and Wendy's home with them for the last two years ... and Wendy told us her son had become increasingly paranoid in recent months after being diagnosed with schizophrenia last year.

Wendy claims her son stopped taking his medication to treat the mental health disorder about a week before James was stabbed to death. Police have not yet confirmed his mother's assertion that he suffers from schizophrenia.

As we reported ... cops say they got a call from a person who told them, "I am the son of man, I just killed the man of sin." Cops say Michael flagged them down and told them he was the one they were looking for when they arrived at the scene.