A POSTMAN who throttled his fiancee with his bare hands after she mocked him has been jailed for life.

Raymond Bennett murdered Christina Murray at the Liberal Club in Beckenham last August.

Mrs Murray had criticised Bennett when the light fitting he tried to fix in her Bromley home came away in his hands.

He stormed out of the house and three days later went to see the mum-of-two at the Liberal Club in Fairfield Road, where she worked and where the couple had met.

He drank five pints before choking the 42-year-old when a row erupted after they were left alone on August 19.

The Old Bailey heard how the 43-year-old alcoholic delivery manager intended to commit suicide and had taken 16 paracetamol tablets before the incident.

He said: "I just remember her coming towards me. She was in the customer area.

"I put my arms out. I don't remember anything after that until I realised what I had done. It was horrific, shocking."

Mrs Murray died because she was choked for up to 30 seconds, causing her to suffocate and fracturing her thyroid cartilage.

Bennett, of Clockhouse Road, Beckenham, called emergency services, admitted his guilt and wept on his way to the police station, saying "She's dead. I killed her".

He admitted manslaughter by reason of diminished responsibility, claiming he was mentally ill when he killed Mrs Murray.

However, the jury rejected this and found him guilty of murder.

Judge Martin Stephens, who sentenced Bennett on July 13, said: "Under the influence of drink you brutally murdered an innocent woman because she no longer wanted anything to do with you."

The judge said Bennett had deep-rooted problems arising from his personality.

He would be on suicide watch wherever he was imprisoned.

Judge Stephens recommended Bennett should serve at least 12 years of his life sentence.

After Bennett's arrest last year, Mrs Murray's daughters suffered further heartache when a shrine set up in her memory outside the Liberal Club was desecrated.

CCTV footage showed 33-year-old Nigel Delgado resting his bicycle against bins outside the social club before climbing the steps and draping his jacket over a bag of teddy bears.

He then cycled away with the teddies, almost falling off his bike in his haste to get away.

The theft prompted a former colleague of Mrs Murray's to say "the tape sickens me" and "the daughters were distraught enough without this extra insult".

Delgado, of High Street, Penge, was later caught and admitted committing the theft.

He was then given a 12-month drug treatment and testing order.