Life for spurned husband who stabbed wife to death in jealous fit

John Dryden, 43, from Ingleton in North Yorkshire, waited in hiding before attacking his wife, Tracy, as she made her way to work after he could not accept their marriage was over.

Dryden had begun stalking the 37-year-old PhD student and had pursued her several times on her way to Morecambe, where she was a part-time community mental health nurse.

Preston Crown Court heard yesterday that Dryden hid on a grass verge at the side of the road where the mother-of-two parked her car before she was due to cycle the rest of the journey to work.

He then leapt out and attacked his wife, who also lived in Ingleton, with a seven-and-a-half inch kitchen knife on the morning of March 12.

Dryden stabbed her twice in the chest with "considerable force" on a street in Halton, Lancaster, and Mrs Dryden was pronounced dead at the scene.

Before the attack, one witness heard Dryden shout: "You are doing my head in. I cannot cope. I have had enough."

The couple married in 2000 but their relationship began to show signs of stress around five years later, the court was told.

Dryden moved out of the family home in October 2008 in a trial separation and lived five minutes away in a rented flat.

Early the following year, he became suspicious that Mrs Dryden was seeing another man, David Rowe, and started to check her emails. The relationship deteriorated further when they disagreed about the proceeds of a future sale of their house.

A month before the killing, Dryden broke into their home and smashed his wife's computer with a crowbar.

Service engineer Dryden, of Thacking Lane, must serve a minimum of 20 years before he can be considered for parole. He pleaded guilty to murder.

Sentencing him, Judge Anthony Russell QC said: "The facts of this terrible tragedy are relatively straightforward.

"You were not prepared to accept your relationship with your wife was over and your compulsive behaviour may have proved a factor in your becoming obsessed."

Relatives of Mrs Dryden, who was a fitness enthusiast and a keen runner, climber and cyclist, said she was a loving mother, daughter and sister.