Life in prison for man who knifed his lecturer ex to death

A FORMER bouncer was jailed for at least 27 years yesterday for murdering his estranged wife in a frenzied knife attack outside her home.

- By Paul Jeeves Crime Editor

Paul Antony Butler, 53, stabbed university lecturer Claire Chick 20 times with a large kitchen knife following a six-month campaign of stalking and harassment.

He then chased her new partner, who had returned from an evening run and saw the attack, shouting at him: “I'll f***ing do you too.”

Butler, who is 6ft 5in, refused to accept his relationship with 5ft 2in Claire was over, Plymouth Crown Court was told.

Sentencing him to life, Judge Linford told Butler his was a story of “obsession and control” and he would be a “very old man” by the time he is released.

Claire, 48, died in hospital an hour after the attack on January 22.