Thug burned lover to death for going out with a male friend

A bus driver who burned his girlfriend to death after finding her out with a male friend has been jailed for life.

Jeffrey Clarke tracked down Amanda Beresford on her night out in Ealing, dragged her to their home, doused her in white spirit and set her alight.

Neighbours reported hearing the mother of two screaming and saw flames through the upstairs windows in Perivale last July.

Ms Beresford, 36, who had a daughter of 18 and a son aged 12 from a previous relationship, was treated for severe burns covering 60 per cent of her body at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital but died five weeks later.

Clarke, 42, was found guilty of murder at Isleworth crown court and ordered to serve a minimum of 22 years. Friends and family of Ms Beresford, who dated him for a year, told the court they urged her to go to police after noticing bruises and other marks on her body.

Clarke was arrested on two occasions in March last year after the friends and family reported his violence to the police but each time Ms Beresford declined to press charges and the abuse continued.

Her mother, Miriam Royale, said: "I will never be able to forget the image of Amanda lying in her hospital bed with such horrific injuries - her stunning looks cruelly taken from her.

"Clarke always thought he was so clever and would get away with this, just as he got away with beating her for so long. Now he has the next 22 years to come to terms with the truth, that he's just a sickening bully."

The Met said: "Amanda's death shows why those who suffer domestic violence, or those who suspect it, must act to stop it escalating. We urge such people to contact police."