Amidu Koroma stabbed 46-year-old community nurse Mariam Kamara four times in the face, neck and chest with a kitchen knife as she slept in her bed, before using petrol to start a fire to hide what he had done.
The defendant blamed their 19-year-old son Ishmael who was asleep in the house at the time - wrongly accusing him of being mentally disturbed and re-enacting a scene from the Netflix thriller, You.
Mr Koroma was found guilty of Ms Kamara's murder and arson at the family home in Brixrton, following a trial at the Old Bailey. He was then sentenced to life with a minimum term of 29 years with a concurrent sentence of seven years for arson.
Her Honour Judge Poulet KC said that contrary to Mr Koroma's claims, his son was a "typical teenager" and Ms Kamara was a "deeply caring and responsible mother". In a victim impact statement, their child, who is now studying accountancy at university, spoke of how much he missed his mother and had been deeply affected by her death, now finding himself unable to trust anyone.
National press reports:
Zoe Johnson KC