Seven years for Leeds reality TV star who killed partner

John Butler was today handed the sentence for the manslaughter of Pauline Butler at her flat in Rawdon, Leeds.

Butler carried out the attack at her home on Cherry Lea Court after she told him she no longer loved him and moved out of the family home.

Butler - owner of Kettley’s Furniture store - carried out the attack two years after appearing on a national reality TV show which featured his firm.

The 62-year-old was yesterday found not guilty of murder by a jury at Leeds Crown Court.

Butler has always accepted responsibility for inflicting the fatal injuries, claiming he lost control during an argument with Mrs Butler on April 14 this year.

Jailing Butler, Mr Justice Edis said: “People who wish to end a relationship and live alone without their former partner are entitled to do that without being killed for it.”

“If you had only listened to what she was clearly telling you, you would never have gone there and she would never have sought you out.

“This happened principally because you could not let go despite the cruel clarity of what she was explaining to you about how she felt.”

The judge added: “You have still not entirely faced up squarely to all that you did.”

During the trial Butler told the jury that he had “turned into a monster” during the row with Mrs Butler.

After yesterday’s verdict, the couple’s eldest son David read out a statement to the court on behalf of family members.

He said: “It is like a fairy tale that has turned into a nightmare. The wonderful times that we had as children growing up. There is no such thing as a perfect parent or a perfect home. They were great parents and brought us up the best they could.

“It just seems like as time has gone on that the family moved on. A disease has taken hold and eaten away those happy times we all shared.

“Never, ever, did we imagine that something so devastating would take hold.

“It is not just the eruption that causes damage. It is the aftermath that follows. There are not enough words to describe the pain and suffering and sheer emptiness.”

Mrs Butler, 61, had recently moved out of the family home, nearby on Larkfield Road, Rawdon, telling Butler she no longer loved him.

Butler carried out the attack and left her body on the floor of the living room before taking her pet dog and locking the door behind him.

The father-of-three then returned to his home and told son Richard: “You need to call the police. I think I have killed your mother.”

A post mortem showed she had died as a result of stab wounds to the neck and chest.

Butler said he was “criminally responsible for her injuries” but denied that he wanted to harm her, claiming he had always loved Mrs Butler.

He said: “It was an explosion. It was like two hundred thousand volts running through your body. It was like an alien took over your mind. I turned into a monster.”

He added: “She was rising up from the chair and grabbing and clawing and I just remember my hand swinging over.”

Kettley’s Furniture, in Yeadon, featured in BBC Two show The Fixer in 2012.

The show stars businesswoman Alex Polizzi and attempted to revive the firm’s fortunes.