THE man who bludgeoned his wife to death with a metal wheel jack during a prolonged and frenzied attack on the M6 near Lancaster has been jailed for life. Anthony Flanagan, 55, carried out the "appalling attack" on his third wife Jill while they sat together in a car on the hard shoulder of the M6 close to Forton services last January. Preston Crown Court heard this week that Flanagan, who pleaded guilty to murder, struck more than 60 blows with the jack resulting in massive head injuries to his 36-year-old wife. The couple had three young children.

Sentencing him Mr Justice Forbes told Flanagan: "Your wife suffered an appalling attack at your hands. One can only hazard a guess at how she suffered during the last moments of her life."

Henry Globe QC, prosecuting, said that Mrs Flanagan managed to parry 40 of the blows before her husband broke her resistance and hit her another 20 times around the head.

He told the court that Flanagan suffered from mental problems in the past and his previous two marriages had ended because of his violent behaviour. The second one failed after he stabbed his wife 27 times resulting in a two-year prison sentence.

Towards the end of 1994 Mrs Flanagan and the defendant's father became concerned about his mental state. He became paranoid, feeling the world was against him and his behaviour became more bizarre.

Mr Globe told the court that the week before the murder Flanagan had taken his wife out for a drive. While they were out, he asked her to pick one of the two playing cards he was holding. Flanagan told her that the card she picked was the card of death.

On the evening of January 25 he borrowed his parents' car and took his wife out for a drive. In the early hours of the next morning the car was seen on the hard shoulder of the southbound M6 near Forton.

A passing motorist called police and when they came to investigate they found Flanagan sat motionless in the front seat.

Mr Globe said: "Upon looking in the rear of the car they saw the deceased laying with her head in the footwell. The cause of death was found to be cerebral contusions caused by multiple blows with a car jack."

Mr Keith Goddard QC, defending, said Flanagan had shown profound remorse by entering a guilty plea to murder.

He added that Flanagan was a sick man at the time of the murder and was affected by his addiction to a strong painkiller which had originally been prescribed for back pain.

Speaking after the trial, Lancaster Det Insp David Baines said: "The sentence of life imprisonment was a very clinical end to what was a horrific attack on the young woman concerned.

"Our hearts go out to the three young children from the relationship. The good news for us and the public at large is he received life imprisonment."

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