A BURNLEY man has been jailed for life for murdering a mum-of-four in a frenzied prolonged attack.

Kevin Hawke had moved in with 39-year-old victim Sharon Winter less than two weeks before the fatal drunken attack during which she suffered more than 90 wounds.

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Miss Winter, who met on Hawke on an internet dating website, begged for her life after he kicked and pushed her to the floor and then repeatedly stabbed her with a nine-inch knife, which he had got from the kitchen.

But Hawke, formally of Hart Street, ignored her desperate pleas and afterwards just downed another beer before ringing the girlfriend he had dumped the previous month to confess and ask for help, before then calling the emergency services.

Police arrived at the victim's home in County Road, Walton, Liverpool and found shirtless Hawke, 33, covered in her blood.

They discovered his victim lying dead on her back in the bloodstained flat, said Anya Horwood, prosecuting.

Hawke, an unemployed chef who had attended Towneley High School and Burnley College, had no previous convictions but Liverpool Crown Court heard that he had been violent to previous partners and at least one of Miss Winter's friends had been uneasy about Hawke's relationship with her.

Imposing a life sentence on Hawke, who pleaded guilty to murder, Judge Clement Goldstone, QC, told him: "It was a brutal, vicious and prolonged attack."

He said that Hawke had been drinking all afternoon and evening when he killed Miss Winter on July 12 after they had a petty argument about the television or music.

Miss Winter lightly slapped him on the face and instead of responding in a similar vein, having drunk at least 15 cans of beer, he got a knife with a four and a half inch blade and attacked her.

"You lost your temper, perhaps taking out on Miss Winter your own frustrations and inadequacies and you kicked and pushed her to the floor and while she was lying on the floor defenceless you stabbed her repeatedly. You ignored her pleas for you to stop and her efforts to defend herself.

"When you had finished you threw the knife on the settee and poured yourself another beer. A more callous disregard for life with someone you had been in a relationship with is hard to imagine.

"Sadly you are a wholly different man when not in drink, a condition which has blighted much of your life, and that has now led to the death of a wholly innocent and blameless woman.

“There is no doubt from the ferocity and duration of your drunken attack and your refusal to stop when Miss Winter begged you to that you intended to kill her."

The judge ordered that Hawke, of no fixed abode, serve 17 and a half years before he can apply for parole but warned him that did not mean that was when he would be released.

The court heard that Miss Winter had been particularly vulnerable because a developmental disorder meant she was small in stature, had poor eyesight and learning difficulties.

Miss Horwood told Liverpool Crown Court that the couple met via a dating agency and then met in Liverpool.

He ended his relationship with his girlfriend at the end of June and moved from North Wales and moved in with Miss Winter at the beginning of July.

He drank regularly, often beginning early in the day, and used to seemingly playfully punch her or pull her hair. Their relationship ended for a short while but then resumed and by the date of the attack they were cohabiting again.

After the murder a post mortem examination found she had more than 90 incised injuries, the majority stab wounds. Some of the wounds to her arms and legs had completely passed through her limbs and she had defensive wounds to her hands.

She had suffered extensive damage to her liver, bowel, heart, spleen and lungs and a rib had been severed and another partly severed indicating a severe degree of force.

When interviewed Hawke admitted he had been drinking beer and went out to buy vodka and more beer and they had a row. He initially claimed she had attacked him but later abandoned that claim.

The court heard that the victim's children had all been adopted or fostered.

Her 17-year-old daughter, who was not present in court, said her mum did not deserve to die and Hawke, whom she described as evil, deserved his punishment, added Miss Horwood.

Michael Bagley, defending, said that Hawke, who has learning difficulties, was genuinely remorseful.

His father died when Hawke was a teenager and he undoubtedly had emotional problems and had self-harmed and tried to kill himself.

"This is a person whose frustrations with his own life boiled over causing the death of a quite blameless individual," added Mr Bagley.