A WEST Devon property developer has been jailed for life for strangling his solicitor girlfriend just hours after she underwent a breast cancer operation.

The jury at Exeter Crown Court has heard how Okehampton lawyer Sian Rees was stabbed and strangled to death in a jealous rage by her partner, John Doyle. He set off to hide her body on Dartmoor but crashed his van on the way.

Property developer Doyle, 54, had been living with 50-year-old Sian for 14 years at Merton Mill, near Hatherleigh, but could not accept it when she ended their relationship.

He was jealous after she started a platonic internet affair with another man.

She was already fed up with Doyle's drinking, laziness and nagging but the final straw came when she was left stranded at hospital after her operation because he went drinking instead of picking her up.

She drove straight from the Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital to the White Hart Hotel in Okehampton to book herself in for the night.

The couple then returned to their home, but Doyle killed her before she could even pack.

Doyle denied murder but was found guilty and jailed for life with a minimum term of 16 years.

Judge Graham Cottle told him: 'The events of the day of the killing had conclusively signalled the end of your relationship with her. The use of the knife and the act of strangulation make it quite clear you intended to kill Sian Rees.

'It was not pre-meditated but your objective was clear.

'It is quite clear you were driving the deceased with a view to disposing of the body and the incriminating items used in connection with the murder. I have no doubt about that at all.

'You planned to advance the explanation that she had simply disappeared and you put her shoes into the vehicle as part of that plan.

'It was only the fact that the manner of your driving disabled the car that prevented you from successfully executing that plan.

'I make clear that I consider your actions after the murder as aggravating seriously the offence. The defence you advanced of self-defence was a preposterous claim in the circumstances.'

During the two-week court case the jury heard how the couple had been together for 14 years, after meeting in the Wirral where Sian worked as a solicitor and he was a charity fundraiser.

They renovated six houses together in Cheshire before moving to Devon after falling in love with the area during a weekend break.

Sian worked as a solicitor in Okehampton while he was supposed to be refurbishing the old mill house they bought.

He was still doing basic building work five years after they moved in.

Doyle stabbed and strangled her during an argument although he claimed the knifing was accidental and he was acting in self-defence when he held her off by her throat.

Sian died from heart failure induced by asphyxia and pressure on her carotid artery but also had 40 injuries, many of which were cuts and bruises around her face and neck.

Mr Michael Fitton, QC, defending, said the killing had not been planned but arose out of an argument.

He said: 'The argument no doubt had its genesis in his behaviour that day and his failure to proved Sian Rees with the support to which she was obviously entitled, having undergone the operation she had.'