A “JEALOUS, controlling and violent” husband who murdered his wife in a ‘breathtakingly brutal’ attack faces a minimum of 17 years behind bars.

Shaun Dyson kicked, punched and stamped to death his estranged wife, Lucy-Anne Rushton, in her Suffolk Road home during the early hours of the morning of June 23.

Lucy sustained 37 rib fractures, a broken sternum, internal blood loss and torn bowel ligaments, suffering a “miserable, wretched and drawn out death”.

Dyson, 28, was sentenced to life in prison with a minimum sentence of 17 years at Winchester Crown Court on Friday.

Mr Justice Choudhury, sentencing, said: “Lucy Rushton was your wife. She was the mother of five children. You were the father of her two youngest children. In the early hours of June 23 this year you took Lucy’s life by kicking and stamping on her to death. She was only 30 years old.”

He added: “Your jealous, controlling and violent nature, which demanded that Lucy could not be with other men, all the while conducting a secret affair yourself, culminated that night in an attack that is breathtaking in its brutality.

“You kicked, punched and stamped on Lucy innumerable times, whilst she was lying on the floor, unarmed, inebriated and half-naked.

“Such was the extreme force used to attack, Lucy suffered 37 fractures to her ribs, over 70 bruises, a broken sternum, internal blood loss, and the tearing of the very ligaments which kept her intestines in place.

“The pathologist concluded the attack was such that Lucy did not suffer a sudden death, but a ‘miserable, wretched and drawn out death’”.

Dyson had initially denied murder but admitted manslaughter, however he changed his plea on Wednesday, during the third week of the trial. Mr Justice Choudhury noted that the change of plea earned him a six month reduction in his prison sentence.

Dozens of members of Lucy’s family attended Dyson’s sentencing on Friday. The family did not wish to comment after the trial, other than to say that the sentence was not long enough.