HUSBAND Edward Richardson has today been jailed for life for murdering his wife.

The jury at Stafford Crown Court found Richardson, aged 41, of Mayfield Road, Biddulph, guilty of murder.

Judge Simon Tonking ordered that Richardson should serve at least 18 years behind bars for the "brutal mutilation" of his spouse, Sarah, aged 26.

Stafford Crown Court heard how he stabbed her 13 times in a "relentless and merciless" attack.

Judge Tonking told him: "You subjected her to an attack which involved 13 stab wounds and 39 separate lacerations."

Richardson confronted his wife Sarah three weeks after they broke up on May 12, 2008. She had been staying at her parents' house in Lyndhurst Drive, Biddulph.