A FAMILY broke down in tears and said justice had been done after the man who killed their daughter received a life sentence for murder.

Christopher Lee Waddington, 27, was found guilty after a five-day trial at Preston Crown Court of stabbing to death the mother of his two children, Ruth Phillips, after she told him their relationship was over.

Judge Michael Sachs said: "It was a cowardly attack on the mother of your children. The only punishment I can give is one of life sentence."

It took a majority vote by the jury of seven men and five women, seven hours and 20 minutes to return their verdict.

Waddington, who was also convicted and sentenced to 200 hours community service for causing actual bodily harm to a police officer in 1994, murdered former Clitheroe schoolgirl Ruth, 29, at their home in Moor View, Salterforth, near Colne, on August 13 last year.

The court heard how he stabbed his partner of five years four times in the chest with a kitchen knife in their own front room while the children slept upstairs.

Waddington told the court he was provoked into killing her after she told him she had had better sex with her new lover, Mathew Rochford, than she had had in a long time and that he would make a better father than him.

A former employee at Nelson company, Smurfit, he told police that although he could not remember the actual attack, he could remember picking up the knife and 'going for' Ruth.

Today Ruth's mum, Jeanette Templar, 56, said although justice had been done for her daughter, there was no happy outcome.

She said: "There are no winners here today. Our daughter was brutally butchered to death and two children have been left without a mother.

"Waddington not only buchered her physically but he tried to butcher her reputation to evade justice. Thankfully the jury were not swayed by the lies that he told."