Luke George Jones will serve a minimum of 17 years in prison after being found guilty of the murder of mother of one Natasha Bradbury.

Judge Keith Thomas passed a life sentence following the unanimous verdict but was also required to determine the number of years he must serve behind bars before being allowed to apply for parole.

Judge Thomas stressed that 17 years was not a maximum but a minimum.

Prisoners serving life sentences are rarely granted parole after first applying and cannot apply twice within a 12 month period.

Judge Thomas said he agreed with Chris Clee QC, Jones’ lead defence barrister, that the sentencing guidelines council recommended a sentence of 15 years.

But Jones’ crime included aggravating features and 15 years would be too short.

The features included Miss Bradbury being beaten to death in her own home, where she had the right to be safe. And Jones’ decision not to telephone for an ambulance until several hours after attacking her.

By then it was too late and Miss Bradbury, aged 27, was already dead.

Judge Thomas said he accepted that Jones, a 33 year old pipe welder, did not have previous convictions for violence against other human beings. But he did have one for causing criminal damage at the home of a former partner.

That was indicative, said Judge Thomas, of Jones’ inability to view Miss Bradbury’s lifestyle as anything other than an undermining of his “authority and manhood” despite the fact that his lifestyle mirrored her’s.

Less than 24 hours before the “severe and sustained” attack on Miss Bradbury, Jones had been told that she had slept with another man.

But he volunteered to the jury that he had been seeing “other girls” during his three year, on-off relationship with Miss Bradbury.

Jones, of Haven Drive, Milford Haven, murdered Miss Bradbury at Flat A, Imperial Court, off the High Street, Haverfordwest, in the early hours of February 22.

His claim that Miss Bradbury had attacked him and that she had suffered 53 injuries after he pushed her away and she fell through a glass topped coffee table were demolished by pathologist Dr Deryk James.

Mr Clee said Jones no longer challenged Dr James’ evidence.

Judge Thomas said it was more likely that Jones had smashed the table on Miss Bradbury’s head as she lay on the floor already seriously injured.

By the time he dialled 999 and asked for an ambulance she was already “freezing cold” and although paramedics tried for 46 minutes to revive her it was too late and she was declared dead at the scene.

Judge Thomas said Miss Bradbury, who stood less than five feet three inches tall and weighed under seven stones, was no match for Jones.

Only Jones knew exactly what happened late on February 21 and into the early hours of February 22.

But it was clear that Miss Bradbury had been exchanging “sexy” text messages with Daniel McGuckin throughout the evening, until they suddenly stopped at 10.10pm on February 21.

It was probably then that Jones began a “severe and sustained” attack on Miss Bradbury.

Dr James told the jury there must have been at least 10 separate impacts to cause injuries he associated with a road traffic accident.

And he said it was clear that repair processes had been underway within Miss Bradbury’s body until the moment of death and that they did not even begin for one to two hours after impact.

As Miss Bradbury lay dying Jones helped himself “to a couple of cans.”

The jury also heard that experts found glass from many smashed items strewn around the flat, but very little under Miss Bradbury’s body, which suggested to them that Jones had caused the damage as Miss Bradbury lay dying, as opposed to his version that Miss Bradbury had been throwing glasses at him.

Jones showed no reaction to the verdict, or to Judge Thomas’ comments as he sentenced him.

“This was the tragic and senseless loss of the life of a young mother,” he said, and the incalculable suffering caused to Miss Bradbury’ family could not be measured by the length of a prison sentence.

It had been a brutal and sustained attack, he added, on a woman who was effectively defenceless.

Judge Thomas said he was satisfied that Jones had used his fists and his feet during the attack, as well as the coffee table.

No-one would ever know, he said, whether Miss Bradbury could have been saved if Jones had picked up the telephone instead of waiting for a number of hours.

Before Judge Thomas announced the sentence, the court heard from Detective Constable Amy Talboys, who read a statement on before of Miss Bradbury’s family.

They said their family unit had been “torn apart” by Miss Bradbury’s murder, and said her eight year old son had seen his childhood ruined.