By
Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 10:47 AM on 23rd December 2011
A former soldier who stabbed his ex-girlfriend 28 times in a frenzied attack has been jailed for manslaughter.
Brian Woodmass, 59, used two knives to repeatedly stab Jillian Louise at the home they once shared after failing to accept the end of their relationship.
Woodmass, from Oswestry had pleaded guilty at Stafford Crown Court, on the grounds of diminished responsibility.
Savage: Brian Woodmass, left, stabbed his ex-girlfriend Jillian Louise 28 times after refusing to accept the end of their relationship
Rob Edwards, prosecuting, told the court Woodmass had difficulty accepting the breakdown of the relationship in November 2010 and on the day of the incident an argument between the two escalated.
Mr Edwards said: ‘The defendant pushed her back and she turned to face him with the knife in her hand, accidentally cutting his hand.
‘His reaction was to take the knife from her and used a second knife to carry out a frenzied attack on her.’
Mrs Nevitt, of Shropshire, sustained 28 wounds, 16 of them significant, damaging vital organs.
Woodmass then left the property, later returning to cover the 45-year-old’s body with a duvet, writing notes to her and prepared a noose in the attic of the property, before calling the police.
Defending, Mark Wall explained that Woodmass had suffered from depression and post-traumatic stress disorder having served for the British Army between 1967 and 1976.
‘He [Woodmass] is completely distressed and ashamed by what he has done,’ Mr Wall said.
‘He has hardly seen his family in the last year, not their desire, but his as he can’t face them and acknowledge what he has done and explained what he has done.’
Wearing a navy blue jumper and shirt, Woodmass kept his head bowed throughout the hearing and showed no emotion as Judge Simon Tonking delivered his verdict, commenting: ‘While your responsibility was diminished, this does not mean that you bear no responsibility at all – lying behind your actions were jealousy, possessiveness and anger.’
To Mrs Nevitt’s family he added: ‘No sentence which I could impose could possibly do anything to compensate you for your terrible loss and I recognise that.’
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