Man jailed for girlfriend murder

Tarasenko claims to have "alcohol dependency syndrome"

A former soldier in the Latvian army who killed his girlfriend by stabbing her through the heart will spend at least 18 years in prison.

Andrejs Tarasenko, 33, was found guilty of murdering fellow Latvian Olita Kauskala, 29, by a jury last week.

Tarasenko was given a life sentence by a judge at Leeds Crown Court who said he was "clearly a dangerous man".

Jurors heard how Tarasenko attacked Ms Kauskala during a drunken argument at their Hull bedsit in February 2007.

The Recorder of Leeds, Judge Peter Collier QC, said: "Almost certainly it [the knife] would have gone right through her body if the tip of the knife had not come up against her backbone.

"Her short life was taken from her by your possessive, violent and drunken act."

Funeral recorded

The jury rejected Tarasenko's argument that his mental responsibility was diminished because of his "alcohol dependency syndrome" and that he did not mean to kill her.

The court heard how Tarasenko came to the UK in 2004. Ms Kauskala arrived in 2006.

They began a relationship and lived together in a bedsit in Ash Grove for about 10 months.

The jury was told how their relationship was punctuated with acts of drunken violence committed by Tarasenko.

The judge commended the police in the inquiry who had gone "far beyond the call of duty" in their dealings with Ms Kauskala's family.

He heard how her family was too poor to repatriate her body or to travel to the UK, so detectives organised a funeral in the UK and recorded the proceedings for her relatives in Latvia.