A jealous boyfriend brutally murdered his partner shortly after he had sex with her because he feared she had cheated on him, a court was told.

Carl Chadwick, 35, strangled Sarah Keith, 26, with a dressing gown cord and stabbed her in the heart at a flat in Horsforth.

Chadwick, of no fixed abode, was jailed for a minimum of 25 years after pleading guilty to murder. 

Leeds Crown Court today heard he carried out the savage assault as revenge because he thought Ms Keith had been unfaithful to him while he was in jail.

Chadwick armed himself with the dressing gown cord before having sex with his partner and then positioned himself behind Ms Keith and put the cord behind her neck and strangled her as she got to her feet.

To make sure she had died, he got a knife from the kitchen and stabbed her five times in the heart.

Afterwards, Chadwick covered her body with a curtain, watched pornography and took cocaine.

The killer intended to flee but handed himself into West Yorkshire Police the next day.

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.

Following his arrest, Chadwick pleaded guilty to murder but he denies that there is a sexual motive to the killing.

Chadwick told the court he was "really sorry" for what happened and said he "did love Sarah no matter what people heard or see in this court."