Council printer Paul Evison, 38, pleaded guilty to murdering nurse Sandra McKean, also 38. He had attacked her in her home as she slept.
The married father of three became infatuated with McKean during a relationship which started when they struck up a conversation in an internet chatroom, where he called himself "Saxon" and she was named "Babette".
He planned to quit his job with Rushcliffe borough council, leave his wife, Caroline, and move from the Nottingham area to Howdon, north Tyneside, to be with his lover.
The couple had bought an engagement ring but their six-month affair ended when the divorcee, who had two children, decided she did not want to remarry, Newcastle crown court heard yesterday.
Friends described the district nurse, who cared for people with mental health problems, as "an outgoing, bubbly character who was full of fun".
Evison went to her home and broke in during the early hours of April 7 this year. He then stabbed her 12 times, the prosecutor, Brian Forster QC, told the court.
The defendant later made attempts to kill himself back in Nottinghamshire.
James Wood QC, defending, said the case was a classic "crime of passion".
The defendant, who was having sex with at least three women after meeting them via the internet, had become obsessed with his ex-lover when she ended the relationship in March, Mr Wood said.
The dead woman, who was said to be intellectually superior to Evison, had at first expressed love for the defen dant but later cooled, the court heard.
Mr Wood said: "He [Evison] couldn't handle it and what happened next was a tragedy and a classic crime of passion."
Mr Justice Field told Evison that his former lover was entitled to finish the relationship. "Unable to accept this, you broke into her house and there you inflicted a frenzied and deadly attack on her with a knife," he told the defendant.
Outside court, Detective Chief Inspector Frank Gallop said: "His behaviour was classic of a stalker, he was obviously infatuated with her and came back to the north-east on more than one occasion in essence to spy on her.
"She didn't contact police because she was not aware he had been there. We are very pleased that this was a guilty plea as it saves the family the pain of having to go through with a trial."
Press Association
