A GWENT postman was jailed for life this afternoon for murdering his ex-lover in a ferocious knife attack.

A jury at Newport crown court found Mark Anthony Redwood, 31, guilty of murdering mother-of-one Natalie Jenkins with a carving knife at his house in Almond Avenue, Ty Sign, Risca, last July.

Judge John Griffith Williams, QC, said Redwood had carried out "a ferocious and sustained attack on Mrs Jenkins". He told Redwood he had shown "no real remorse or regret for what you did".

Redwood murdered 24-year-old Mrs Jenkins after the couple had been on a night out in Risca.

The couple, who had a daughter, got back together just before Mrs Jenkins was killed after the seven-year relationship ended acrimoniously in 2002.

Former soldier Redwood admitted killing Mrs Jenkins but claimed she had provoked him during a heated argument about their daughter, and claimed she had used him for his money.

He had admitted manslaughter with diminished responsibility but denied the murder charge.

The prosecution dismissed Redwood's story. Nicholas Cooke, QC, told the jury: "He is a devious, manipulative, cold blooded and self-centred liar."

Mrs Jenkins died from multiple stab wounds to her torso. Redwood said he tried several times to commit suicide after killing her by cutting himself in his groin area with a knife, putting his head in the oven, gassing himself in his car and overdosing.

He said he had killed "somebody who I loved". Redwood was arrested for murder by a Thames Valley police officer at Reading's Royal Berkshire Hospital after driving there following the murder.

While in hospital, where he was being treated for horrific injuries, Redwood told police officers that he had killed Mrs Jenkins

Patrick Harrington, QC, said in mitigation that there was the aggravating fact that a child had been "deprived of a mother and with effectively no prospect she would see her father again either".

The judge said that Redwood would have to serve at least 15 years in prison and would remain on licence for the rest of his life.