Natalie Hemming murder: Jealous partner jailed for life

Hemming had earlier admitted manslaughter, claiming he never meant to kill Miss Hemming or cause her serious bodily harm, but this was rejected by the prosecution

A jealous man who murdered his partner after finding out she was having an affair has been jailed for life.

Paul Hemming beat mother-of-three Natalie Hemming, 31, to death in the lounge of their Milton Keynes home while their children slept upstairs.

Miss Hemming was found dead in woodland at Chandlers Cross, Hertfordshire, on 22 May, 21 days after she disappeared.

Hemming, 43, was found guilty at Luton Crown Court and told he must serve a minimum term of 20 years.

Natalie Hemming was found in woodland

The noise of the attack woke the couple's six-year-old son, who went downstairs.

When he peeked through a gap in the door he saw his mother's body, which by then his father had wrapped in a blanket.

Not realising she had been killed and fearing he would be told off for being awake, he crept back to his bedroom.

Zoo trip

When the youngster and his two sisters got up the next morning, their father claimed their mother had left the house while they were asleep.

He then took them to Whipsnade Zoo for a day out.

Natalie Hemming was murdered by her partner at their home in Alderney Avenue, Newton Leys, Milton Keynes

Miss Hemming's body was dumped in woods at Chandlers Cross

Hours earlier, while the children slept, Hemming had carried his partner's naked body out of the house, transferred it in the boot of his car and driven 30 miles from the family home in Alderney Avenue, Newton Leys, Milton Keynes, to Toms Wood, Chandlers Cross, south Hertfordshire.

There, he dragged her corpse by her feet into thick undergrowth.

He left her face down beneath the trees, where she was found three weeks later by a man who had been mowing a meadow nearby.

Hemming had earlier admitted manslaughter, claiming he never meant to kill Miss Hemming or cause her serious bodily harm.

'Lack of remorse'

He claimed she died when he threw a heavy ornament at her which, he said, accidentally hit her on the head.

Hemming said by the time he got to her she was not breathing and he knew she was dead.

But Simon Russell-Flint QC, for the prosecution, said Miss Hemming had been killed "in a fit of rage and jealousy" when Hemming learnt she had been unfaithful to him and was planning to leave him and take the children.

In sentencing, Judge Richard Foster told Hemming: "Natalie Hemming knew, you were overbearing, controlling, jealous and on occasions violent. You said you would mend your ways but you did not.

"The manner in which you have conducted yourself since the murder indicates a complete lack of remorse."

The judge passed a concurrent sentence of five years for the offences of obstructing the coroner and preventing Natalie's lawful burial.