The girlfriend of a former Gravesend taxi driver, who killed his wife and buried her under the patio, has said the thought of her relationship with the murderer makes her "blood run cold".

Nigel Jackson was jailed for 25 years on Thursday (January 28), for bludgeoning his common-law wife of 27 years, Brenda Davidson, to death and burying her in a shallow grave in the garden of their home in the Algarve.

He used Ms Davidson's credit cards and sold her jewellery to fund his new bachelor lifestyle and Tippexed her name off the deeds for their remote cottage.

His mistress, mum-of-one Vanessa Milheiro, told the Mirror: "It makes my blood run cold to think Brenda was buried under the patio while I was with Nigel."

The 42-year-old got to know her lover at a cafe near her home, where he would sit with other expats.

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The concrete grave

Their relationship became romantic six months before Ms Davidson disappeared in November 2014, and Jackson would stay at Miss Milheiro's house so as not to raise suspicion.

The teacher believed Jackson was divorced. He told her Ms Davidson, 72, was visiting to have medical treatment for her ovarian and thyroid cancer.

Jackson later claimed Ms Davidson had moved to Spain with her son.

Miss Milheiro added: "I never found him aggressive or behaving badly. He was a perfect English gentleman, very courteous, very polite and very kind.

"He treated my son like he was his own and was always great with him and ready to help with anything he needed.

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Jackson leaving his Algarve home

"We used to go out for coffee together and to the park with my son where he would play football with him and basketball."

"I just thought he was single and I was his girlfriend," she added. "I didn't know I was his mistress.

"All of the time I knew Nigel, to me he was a single man.

"I never saw Brenda, I didn't know anything about her. I never saw him with her.

"I always saw him alone, every day for five years, so I had no reason to doubt him."

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Miss Milheiro said Jackson continued to protest his innocence following his arrest - and she visited him in custody every week.

She plans to end their 18-month romance when she visits the killer this week.

Miss Millheiro said: "It feels like it is a film and I am not here, not living this, that it is not happening. It doesn't feel real.

"I just want to put all of this behind me now and move on with my life. I wish none of this had ever happened."