A York couple's lives were shattered forever when - in a "moment of madness"- blind-drunk Caroline Mawhood stabbed fianc Simon Gilchrist to death with a kitchen knife.

A jury at Leeds Crown Court took only two hours yesterday to unanimously find the mother-of-two, of Bell Farm Avenue, guilty of murder.

Mawhood, 21, wept after being told she must serve at least 12 years of a life sentence before being considered for parole - being split from her two young children through most of their childhood.

Simon's family said that as they attempted to come to terms with the death of a much-loved son and brother, they had been left "fragile and traumatised".

Sentencing Mawhood, Judge Paul Hoffman said that after returning blind-drunk to the flat she shared with Simon in Bell Farm, she had picked up the knife and stabbed the man whom she professed to love, and whom she said was the only person who had ever loved her.

"It was a wicked thing to do," he said.

Describing Mawhood as "one of life's inadequates", he said she should serve at least 12 years, minus the time already spent on remand, before being eligible for consideration for parole.

He said that while she had no previous convictions, she did have two cautions, including one for assaulting a police officer, had cut a previous boyfriend with a knife in 2002 and was prone to violence.

The trial at Leeds Crown Court had been told that the stabbing happened on July 26 last year after Mawhood had earlier attacked a woman in the Marcia pub in Bishopthorpe.

Mawhood told the jury that Simon's death had been an accident, because she had forgotten she had the knife in her hand when she had pushed him. But the prosecution said her account of what had happened was "incredible", and the jury convicted her within two hours of retiring to consider their verdict.

Simon's mother, Josie Linnane, father Andy Gilchrist and brother Matthew said in a statement that they were relieved that the ordeal of the court proceedings was over. "We would like to express our deep thanks for support given both on a professional and personal level," they said.

How the events and trial were reported>>

Updated: 10:28 Wednesday, January 19, 2005