Houssam Djemaa, 23, said he killed 34-year-old partner Jacqueline Barrett in a frenzied attack after she called him “a f***ing muslim ****”.
Djemaa – who was given life with a minimum of 15 years – then sold her TV and Nintendo Wii for cash to flee, but changed his mind and handed himself in to the police.
The dual Algerian and British national said he lost control after Ms Barrett swore at him and threatened him with a knife. An Old Bailey jury rejected his defence of provocation and he was found guilty of murder.
The victim’s family, who were sat in court and in the public gallery, cheered loudly as the verdict was announced.Djemaa wept and hung his head as Judge Peter Beaumont QC told him: “You took the life of the woman who loved you in circumstances of extreme violence. “There is only one sentence that I can pass and that is a life sentence.”
Ms Barrett met Djemaa in summer 2010, but by November she was complaining that he was telling her not to look at other men or go on Facebook.
A week before her death she told her mother that he was beating her.
On December 10 Ms Barrett told her mum she and Djemaa were staying in to watch a film at the flat she lived in with her seven-year-old son in Cricklewood, North London. Early the next morning Djemaa was spotted by a pal walking in nearby Hendon – and told him he had “just killed someone”.
He and the friend walked back to the flat where Djemaa called the cops.Police arrived to find Ms Barrett lying on her back in the kitchen wearing only a t-shirt. A blood-stained towel had been placed over her waist and there was a powdery substance all over the floor.
An empty fire extinguisher was found nearby with blood stains on the bottom, which was later matched to the victim’s DNA.
The post-mortem revealed Ms Barrett had suffered bruising to the scalp, face, neck and shoulders and there was evidence she had been asphyxiated. At the scene, Djemaa told an officer: “I killed her. I will do the time.”
Djemaa, who has previous convictions for burglary and theft, later admitted that he had ransacked the house, taking the victim’s credit card, phones, TV and her son’s Nintendo Wii.Giving evidence, he said he was thinking about running away but denied he planned to escape abroad.
He also claimed he lost his temper when Ms Barrett threatened him and racially abused him.
Djemaa told the court: “I became very agitated and angry and started to feel blood rushing to my head and I started to shake. “There was so much tension built up within me, frustrations and anger.”
He described how he threw the fire extinguisher at her twice before straddling her on the kitchen floor and strangling her.
Djemaa denied murder but admitted manslaughter.
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