MURDERER Ian Hope has been jailed for life for stabbing his partner to death because she was ‘on at me’.

Hope had subjected Sarah Gosling to a series of beatings before finally killing her with a knife to the chest at their Newcastle home.

The 53-year-old, who was convicted of murder by a jury at Newcastle Crown Court yesterday, was told he must serve at least 17 years of a life sentence.

His 41-year-old partner, the daughter of a policeman, had suffered a number of attacks before she had a knife plunged into her chest.

Ms Gosling, who worked at Sainsbury’s, in Gosforth, Newcastle, had suffered 10 black eyes in a year.

Less than two weeks before the fatal stabbing, Hope had been ordered to complete a domestic violence course and was banned from spending the evenings with his girlfriend after hitting her in the head with a rolling pin.

However he ignored the court order, and one night in February violence flared again. And this time it ended in her death.

Police been called to their flat in Lemington, Newcastle, just over an hour before the murder, but were reassured by the pair they would behave after an earlier disturbance.

As Hope was jailed for life with a minimum term of 17 years, Ms Gosling’s brother, Andrew Bernard, outlined his family’s grief and pain.

Mr Bernard said: “Sarah Gosling was a mother, daughter and sister when she was robbed of her young life by Ian Hope.

“Before she met Hope she was an important part of a family. She had a stable life.

“Sarah’s death was completely unexpected to her mother, Jean. She remains to this day, nine months on, in denial, in shock and in mourning. She told me this week that she was heartbroken by Sarah’s death.