Man gets 25 years for 'frenzied and savage' knife murder of estranged wife

Ty Medland was described as a 'petulant, self-centred man' incapable of taking rejection

Ty Medland has been jailed for 25 years (PA)

A man has been jailed for 25 years for stabbing his estranged wife to death using knives given to him as a wedding present.

Ty Medland, 26, posted online a series of graphic pictures and videos of the couple having sex shortly before the "frenzied and savage" murder of Samantha Medland.

In a message posted with the videos, he called Mrs Medland, 24, a "the cheating, lying, unloyal whore who destroyed everything I loved and believe in".

A two-week trial at Lewes Crown Court heard that she had become close to another man and had rebuffed her husband's repeated attempts to patch up the marriage.

Medland, described as a "petulant, self-centred man" incapable of dealing with rejection, knifed her to death as she collected belongings from him near her workplace in Queen Square, Brighton, in February.

He pleaded guilty to manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility but was convicted of murder on Friday.

Judge Anthony Scott-Gall said: "I am satisfied, as were the jury, that you couldn't accept this rejection, added to which was the suggestion in your mind that your wife had started a relationship with another man."

He said he accepted that tragedy had touched Mr Medland, including the death of his daughter and a miscarriage suffered by Mrs Medland, but added: "In my judgment, your motive was clear. You intended to kill your wife because a) she had rejected you and b) because you couldn't bear the prospect of her being with another man."

"It's conceded that you launched a frenzied and savage attack. Her screams alerted local residents who were witness to those awful events."

Defence counsel Graham Trembath QC said Medland was "indescribably sorry" for his actions and that he was "desperate" for that to be publicly known.

He said: "He knows he will live with what he has done for the rest of his life."

Long-haired Medland, dressed in an open-neck white shirt and dark trousers, showed no emotion as sentence was passed.

Three of the four knives he armed himself with were wedding gifts. The fourth, and the one Medland most likely used to fatally stab his wife, was a lock knife.

Medland had met his wife in central Brighton earlier on the day of the stabbing to hand over her belongings but forgot some items, including a computer hard drive with pictures and personal documents.

As he travelled on the bus to meet her for a second time with the forgotten belongings, he texted some friends. In one message, he wrote: "The only thing I want right now is murder/suicide."

Another read: "I could make a joke about murder/suicide but that probably wouldn't be funny unless I actually did it."