A 29-year-old Englishman has been sentenced to life in prison for the murder of Drogheda woman Amanda Hartley.

Richard Payne was sentenced at Leeds Crown Court last week after pleading guilty to the crime. He will serve at least 15 years before being considered for parole.

The court heard that the pair had a volatile relationship and on May 11th of this year, while drunk, he attacked Ms Hartley, strangling her with a dog lead.

He then placed her in a bed and went to sleep. The judge was told that the following morning he tried to get a friend to help him move the body. The friend refused and informed the police.

When sentencing him to life in prison, Judge Peter Collier QC, said that Payne was 'a dangerous man'.

The victim's past was also revealed. Originally Amanda McKenna, she pleaded guilty to the manslaughter, along with her then partner, Michael Cunningham, of their son, 22-month-old Jimmy Cunningham in a house fire in 1994.

They set fire to their home in east Leeds so they could claim money to pay off debts.

The couple managed to flee the burning building but the fire claimed Jimmy's life and his brother was badly burned.

They claimed they had been sent hate letters in the weeks before the blaze.

Initially they both denied the charges, but then admitted manslaughter at Leeds Crown Court.

Cunningham was jailed for seven years and Hartley was sent to a young offenders' institute for five years.