A MAN who murdered his wife, leaving her with 80 separate wounds, took his dogs for a walk before handing himself in at a Bristol police station.

Matthew Ashill, 37, attacked wife Clare with a dumbell, hammer and finally a knife at their Leicestershire home. He then drove to Bristol – where the couple originally met – and told police "I've just killed my wife".

On her body were eight stab wounds from the knife, three of which penetrated her heart, and were fatal.

Ashill, a cross-dresser with a cocaine addiction, was sentenced to life at Leicester Crown Court, and was told he will serve at least 15 years.

The court heard his wife's ordeal on the night she died lasted 45 minutes as she tried bravely to fight off the attack at their home in Gooding Avenue, Braunstone, Leicester. He ignored her cries for mercy during the attack, in the early hours of Sunday, March 21.

Ashill, who pleaded guilty to murder, stopped only to remove the pink dress he was wearing when it became blood-soaked.

In a statement after the case, Clare's parents, Roger and Elaine Medway, of Plymouth, said: "Clare had her whole life ahead of her and it was taken away so cruelly.

"She was a lovely vibrant girl with an amazing zest for life.

"Her beautiful smile could light up a whole room. Knowing we'll never see her again has completely shattered our lives and we'll never be the same."

Ashill had gorged himself on drugs and alcohol as he plotted Clare's death throughout the night of Saturday, March 20, as she slept upstairs.

The court heard Clare had told her best friend in a phone call that day that she had argued with Ashill, who worked at Toyota, near Derby, and had ended the call abruptly when he walked into the room.

At 6.45am on March 21, the Ashills' neighbour was awoken by screams, shouting and groaning sounds from the normally quiet couple's house. Noises continued until about 7.15am.

Stephen Lowne, prosecuting, said that after Ashill murdered Clare, Ashill carried on drinking and taking drugs.

"He then walked the dog and went to the shops," said Mr Lowne.

"He decided he'd better drive to Bristol and hand himself in at the police station."

At 8.15am on Monday, March 22, Ashill walked into a police station in Bristol saying: "I've killed my wife."

Ashill said in a police interview: "She put up a hell of a fight.

"I don't know why I did it. I was doing coke (cocaine).

"I wasn't going to stop until she was dead."

He said he had taken steroids in the previous two weeks which, when mixed with cocaine, made him short tempered with "dark thoughts".

The couple, who met in Bristol where Clare went to university, were together for 10 years. They were married in 2008 and moved to Leicester that year.

Clare, an assistant manager at Sita's recycling depot in Shepshed, was fed up with her husband's long-term drug abuse and bizarre lifestyle, said Mr Lowne. Ashill was a heavy drug user, going on binges for days on end, and spent hundreds of pounds on women's clothing, in which he would go out clubbing.

Mr Lowne said Clare had begun an affair, though there was no evidence that Ashill knew about it.

Rupert Lowe, in mitigation, said Ashill, who had no previous convictions, had not blamed his wife's affair as the reason for killing her, nor had he sought to use it as provocation.

He told the police he had no idea she was seeing anyone else.

Mr Lowe said: "There was no attempt to cover up or hide the crime.

"He made a confession of extraordinary frankness.

"He said at the end of the interview, 'the poor girl didn't deserve it'. He's extremely remorseful for what he's done to her and her family."

Sentencing Ashill, Judge Michael Pert told him: "You armed yourself with three different weapons to complete your ghastly mission and it took over half-an-hour for you to complete.

"You went to the back bedroom and picked up a dumbbell and went to where she lay sleeping and struck her repeatedly with it.

"While she was still conscious, you went downstairs and armed yourself with a hammer and attacked her with it, despite her screams and attempts to defend herself.

"Not content with that, you left again and armed yourself with a knife, with which you stabbed her repeatedly.

"When that wasn't enough, you manually strangled her.

"At no stage, and despite her repeated entreaties, did you reconsider or give up your attempts to kill her."