Killer Jason Mills was starting a life jail sentence today (Friday) for the brutal murder of his girlfriend.

Mills showed no emotion as a judge at Chelmsford Crown Court said he was a "dangerous young man".

Mr Justice Brian Leveson also told him: "You deprived a young boy of his mother and a mother of her daughter."

Six foot tall, 14-stone Mills carried out a vicious attack on petite Toni Mills, who was 5ft 3in tall, at their home in Essex Avenue, Jaywick, in December.

The 24-year-old mother, who weighed only 5 and a half stone, died in hospital two days later having never regained consciousness.

Mills claimed she had suffered some kind of fit.

But the jury was told her injuries included internal and external bruising and a blow to her abdomen which could not have been caused by a punch alone.

"We are talking about severe force," pathologist Michael Heath told the jury.

There was also a burn on one of her hands possibly caused by it being held over a cooker.

A large bruise on her head was consistent with her head hitting a hard surface.

Mills denied murdering Toni but was convicted on a unanimous verdict after the jury spent more than eight hours considering the case.

The trial heard how the couple had been drinking for most of the day on December 6.

They got into an argument and Mills admitted slapping Toni in the face and punching her once in the stomach.

After the verdict, the court heard Mills had 99 previous convictions mainly for theft and dishonesty but they included one in which he threatened a former girlfriend with a knife