A jealous boyfriend who brutally murdered his partner moments after they had sex has been jailed for a minimum of 25 years.
Drink and drug-fuelled Carl Chadwick, 35, strangled Sarah Keith, 26, with a dressing gown cord and stabbed her in the heart, believing she was cheating on him.
Leeds Crown Court today heard he launched the savage assault as he thought Ms Keith had cheated on him while he was in prison.
Chadwick armed himself with the dressing gown cord before having sex with his partner, it was heard.
Afterwards he positioned himself behind Ms Keith and, as she got to her feet, he "quickly" put the cord around her neck and strangled her.
To ensure the woman was dead, he then got a knife from the kitchen and stabbed her five times in the heart.
After concluding the heinous attack, it was heard Chadwick covered her body with a curtain, watched pornography and took cocaine.
The killer intended to flee but ended up wandering Leeds for a number of hours the next day before handing himself into West Yorkshire Police.
Chadwick admitted murder prior to being sentenced this afternoon.
Jonathan Sharp, prosecuting, said Chadwick has a long-standing history of drug and alcohol misuse and became convinced that Ms Keith had been unfaithful to him.
The prosecutor said: "On this basis, he developed a settled intention to kill her, thinking about it, on his own account, 'several times a week.'
"Sarah was, of course, oblivious to this and their relationship continued."
The court heard how the murder took place after the couple had been out drinking at a pub in Leeds on April 12 this year.
Once home, they moved from the bedroom to the living room where Chadwick put a duvet down on the floor.
Mr Sharp continued: "As they made this move the defendant took her dressing gown cord and hid it behind his back, saying to himself 'I’m going to do this', i.e. kill her.
"He positioned himself so he was behind Sarah, in a position where she could not see what he was about to do."
The fatal attack took place after they had sex.
"He decided to ensure her death by getting a knife from the kitchen and stabbing her to the heart five times," the prosecutor continued.
"The condition of the body post mortem indicated that she was still alive when he did this."
Mr Sharp said Chadwick formed the intention of running away to Blackpool before wandering aimlessly and handing himself in to police.
The defendant told the court he was sorry for what happened and that he did love Ms Keith.
In a heart-breaking victim impact statement, read out by Mr Sharp, Ms Keith's dad Andrew Keith said the family has been left "broken".
Mr Keith said Ms Keith's daughter Emma was unable to understand what happened and still asked if she was going to get better until her ashes were returned to the family.
"We are all broken, especially Emma, Sarah's daughter. You have broken her heart."
It continued: "We are heartbroken and devastated that our daughter was taken from us in the way that she was.
"We are all so lost without Sarah and are struggling without her being with us."
Jailing Chadwick, Judge Geoffrey Marson QC said: "You have destroyed the lives of Sarah's family and for them it is a life sentence.
"They will never be able to forget what you did in taking the life of someone they loved and valued so much."
