Kinga Legg murder: Ian Griffin guilty of beating millionaire girlfriend to death

Ms Legg, a millionairess who made a fortune running a business supplying tomatoes to supermarkets, was found dead in a hotel suite bathtub

A businessman who punched and beat his wealthy girlfriend to death with a hat stand in their £1,000-a-night hotel room in Paris has been jailed for 20 years.

Ian Griffin fled in his Porsche 911 after killing Kinga Legg in June 2009 and returned to Britain but was tracked down five days later living in a tent in woodland in Cheshire.

Ms Legg, a millionairess who made a fortune running a business supplying tomatoes to supermarkets, was found dead in the five-star Bristol Hotel suite’s bathtub by a maid.

She was covered in more than 100 bruises and had suffered fatal internal injuries. Griffin claimed to have no memory of what happened but the couple had been heard arguing at a restaurant before returning to their hotel.

Ms Legg's brother Marek Wolf said: "It was the correct verdict and decision. But nobody can give me or my parents my sister back."

Guillaume Traynard, the family’s lawyer, observed of Griffin: “He was perfectly rational and lucid enough to organise his escape”.

The investigating magistrate said concluded that the murderous level of violence inflicted on Ms Legg meant that her death had been deliberate.

The jury took five hours to reach a verdict that Griffin voluntarily killed his girlfriend. Presiding judge Didier Safar said they had accepted Griffin’s level of responsibly was "changed" by his mental state.

Griffin, 45, had earlier told the court, the Cour D'Assizes, he and Ms Legg planned to marry but argued when she told him: “You owe me sex.”

He claimed he blacked out and only woke up the following morning to find the room in disarray and his girlfriend dead. He said he put her body in the bath to warm her up thinking she might still be alive.

In an often incoherent address to the court before the jury retired at the end of a week-long trial, Griffin said: "The most important thing is to apologise to her parents.

"To think I could do that to the girl I loved, that's killing me. I have been through every regret, every emotion. I would give my life for hers tomorrow."

The prosecution had demanded a 25-year sentence but Griffin’s lawyer, Francis Triboulet, said that such a long jail term would be "amazing" and "nonsense".

Mr Triboulet added of Griffin’s actions in killing Ms Legg: "All this was a kind of crisis. It's impossible, according to me, to say that he's responsible for what he did. He had no reason at all to do what he did.

"During that period of time for which he has been accused he was not himself. Plus you have the massive consumption of benzodiazepine and alcohol on a very depressed man and we have the explanation. He went into a crisis."

The killer was a businessman who owned tanning salons and gadget shops until he went bankrupt.

Griffin has been seen arriving at court this week on crutches because he is suffering from a degenerative neurological disorder.