A DRUNKEN and violent husband who battered his wife to death with a hammer told a judge he wanted to apologise to his family.

John Lyon carried out a savage and ferocious attack on his wife Margaret at his home in Thorpe Street, Ramsbottom, just three days before her 65th birthday.

He smashed her skull with at least nine hammer blows, Manchester Crown Court heard. But before Lyon was jailed for life on Monday after admitting the murder, his lawyer read out a letter in which Lyon expressed his sorrow for the attack.

"I want to apologise for what I have done," Lyon wrote.

"I wish so much I had listened to Margaret. She told me so many times to get help for my drink problem but I would never admit to having one.

"Margaret was the only woman in my life that I have ever loved. I still love her. She was good to me."

Lyon (56) also said he wanted to apologise to his son, also called John, and his wife's other children for "taking their mum away".

He added: "There is not a day goes by when I do not think about what I have done. I will never forget."

After the letter read out in court, Judge Michael Henshell jailed Lyon for life and ordered he should serve at least 12 years six months before he can be considered for parole.

"You ended the life of Margaret Lyon in a savage and frenzied attack", said the judge.

"The evidence suggests you had been drinking and over the years you have demonstrated a capacity for violence.

"You have abused alcohol for many years despite the pleas of your family. This attack was prolonged and it is perfectly apparent she tried to defend herself from the blows raining down on her.

"I am satisfied that since the offence you have been racked by thoughts of guilt and your recollections of your wife".

Prosecutor Alistair Webster QC told how the couple had married in the late 1970s but the relationship was dogged by Lyon's heavy drinking and periodic violence and in one attack he smashed his wife's jaw.

Mrs Lyon had three children from previous relationships and the couple had one son together, but split up in the early 1990s when Lyon lived with another woman.

But that relationship also ended because of his drunken violence and although Lyon and his wife divorced in 1994 they remarried five years later, said Mr Webster.

In May last year they split up again after Lyon was jailed for four months for smashing windows at his wife's home in Lime Grove, Ramsbottom, and she obtained a non-molestation injunction against him.

After his release from prison he went to live in Thorpe Street and contacted his wife through the children and finally she agreed to go for a meal with him one night last November, just days before her 65th birthday.

But the next day police were alerted after friends and family were unable to contact Mrs Lyon. Officers went to Lyon's flat and found her dead in a back room.

Mr Webster said she had been bludgeoned repeatedly with a claw hammer and suffered numerous injuries to the head, arms and hands and when quizzed Lyon said he lost control for " two or three seconds" during a row.

Mr Russell Davies, defending, said Lyon had never been able to deal with his alcohol problem and had ignored pleas from his family to stop drinking.

"His dependence did not and does not diminish his responsibility but his recollection of the events of that night are not clear. He took the life of the woman he loved and his thoughts are preoccupied with his wife and at times he has thought about suicide."

Following the sentencing, Mrs Lyon's family said in a brief statement: "We are happy that justice has been done but our family now has to suffer a life sentence without Margaret."

Detective Inspector Bill Beddows, of Bury CID, said: "The murder of Margaret Lyon is the tragic result of domestic violence over a number of years and I want this case to be a warning to other people who are suffering from domestic violence to take action before it is too late.

"If you don't do something about domestic violence the first time it occurs, it is more than likely to happen again, and yet it takes an average of 35 attacks before a victim contacts the police.

"Support is available to victims throughout the whole process from reporting a crime through to conviction and beyond and I would urge any victim of domestic violence to contact the police and seek help so that we do not find ourselves investigating another murder of this kind."

He added: "I know the sentencing will not bring Margaret back, but today justice has been served and I hope this will help Margaret's family to move on and rebuild their lives."