A bitter husband who murdered his wife after she scorned him on Facebook has been jailed for life.

Wayne Forrester was sentenced to life in prison at the old Bailey today after telling police officers that he felt devastated and humiliated when his wife changed her profile to “single” on the social networking site just four days after he had moved out of the marital home.

Emma Forrester was stabbed to death in a frenzied attack carried out with a meat cleaver and a kitchen knife in the early hours of February 18. Her body was found in bed with injuries to her head and neck - chunks of her hair had been ripped out.

Judge Brian Barker rejected the truck driver’s pleas that he had been dishonoured by his partner’s Facebook status.

“You committed a terrible act. There is no possible excuse or justification," he said. “This is a tragic killing and what you have done has caused untold anguish.”

Police were called to the couple’s home in New Addington, near Croydon, south London, when neighbours heard screaming. Officers found the blood-stained man sitting outside the house.

Forrester, having consumed cocaine and alcohol, believed that his wife, who was a payroll administrator, was having an affair.

In a statement to police after the murder, he said: “Emma and I had just split up. She forced me out.

“She then posted messages on an internet website telling everyone she had left me and was looking to meet other men.

“I loved Emma and felt totally devastated and humiliated about what she had done to me.”

Relatives of the victim wept as the 34-year-old, who pleaded guilty to murder at an earlier hearing, was jailed for life with a minimum term of 14 years.

Alex Lewis, QC for the prosecution, said: “She had been stabbed repeatedly in what was a brutal and sustained attack.”

Miss Lewis said the couple had a “volatile” marriage and Mrs Forrester sometimes took two jobs to support herself and her husband, who was often out of work.

She told the court that the 15-year relationship had deteriorated last Christmas and that Forrester had finally moved out on Valentine’s Day.

The jury heard that he had made threatening telephone calls prompting the victim’s father Robert Rothery to stay at home with her to look after her.

The day before the murder, Forrester rang his wife’s parents to complain about he Facebook entry which, he said, “made her look like a fool”. Later their daughter rang them to tell them she was going to bed and bolting the front door.

In a victim impact statement, Mrs Forrester’s sister Liza Rothery said her death had been “devastating” to her and parents Robert and Frances. Her father felt guilty at his “inability to protect his daughter when she needed him”, she said.

“What on earth could Emma have done to result in such a brutal, callous attack on a defenceless woman?” she said.

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