Life sentence for wife murder

Grey-haired killer Jim Ingram has been jailed for life after being found guilty of murdering his estranged wife Diane.

Judge Simon Tonking yesterday told Ingram he must serve at least 10 years before being considered for parole.

The 63-year-old retired Cannock miner was enraged after his wife told him she had another man. He stabbed her 15 times in the neck and chest in a frenzied attack with a screwdriver at her home in Avon Road, Cannock.

Mrs Ingram was killed the day before a court order would have forced her husband to hand over £133,000 to her solicitors.

Ingram, of Don Grove, had denied murdering her on March 13 of this year but he admitted killing her in an act of provocation.

At Stafford Crown Court the jury took more than seven hours to reach its unanimous verdict.Judge Tonking told Ingram: "It was not a happy marriage, not least because your attitudes to money were diametrically opposed. You, to put it neutrally, were very, very careful and she, to put it neutrally, was not. This led to friction, mistrust and unhappiness."

The judge said he believed Mrs Ingram was planning a new life with someone else but her husband thought she would go back to him. During a trial lasting seven days the jury was told that by order of the court Ingram had to hand over £133,000 by 4pm on March 14 or lose his house.

During the divorce proceedings Ingram deposited more than £214,000 in his son's bank account, taking the money in cash, in separate loads in carrier bags. The prosecution described him as "indescribably mean". Ingram was so mean he even only spent £130 while on the run from police - even though he carried £10,000 in a carrier bag with him all the time.

Ingram admitted in evidence that he launched the fatal attack on his estranged wife after she told him she had another man.

Just minutes earlier, he claimed, there had been sexual activity between them. Ingram vanished that same day, sparking a major police manhunt. He was arrested in Derby city centre on June 5. Other users of the hostel in Derby spotted his "wanted" mugshot in a national newspaper and tipped off police.

Other users of the hostel in Derby spotted his "wanted" mugshot in a national newspaper and tipped off police.

Judge Tonking also took the unusual step of ordering Ingram to pay £10,675 costs.