THE life sentence given to a thug for murdering a former Cumbrian police officer should send a stern warning to other men who want to subject women to extreme violence, says the county’s police and crime chief.

Police and crime commissioner Peter McCall was reacting to the case of Caroline Kayll. The 47-year-old teacher died four days after being brutally attacked by her former boyfriend - cage fighter Paul Robson, 50.

Consumed with anger and jealousy, he travelled through Cumbria to her Northumberland home to carry out the horrific attack.

Knocking her to the floor, he repeatedly kicked her in the head, leaving her with an unsurvivable brain injury. A former professional fighter and amateur powerlifter, Robson then attacked a 15-year-old boy Miss Kayll was having a relationship with.

The teenager survived, despite Robson stabbing him with a meat cleaver and biting him 45 times, Newcastle Crown Court heard.

Mr McCall said: “It’s a tragedy for anybody to lose their life so violently, under such circumstances. Nothing can excuse that kind of violence. It’s good to see that justice has been served in this case.

“Such a severe sentence sends out a strong message: it shows such a level of violence is totally unacceptable. We’re all becoming more aware of violence against women and girls.”

Robson denied murder, attempted murder and blackmail but was convicted of all three charges after a Newcastle Crown Court trial.

He and Mrs Kayll were previously in a relationship when she taught at HMP Northumberland where he was a prisoner, serving a 10-year stretch for drugs and firearms offences.

Jailing him for life, with a minimum 35 year term, Mr Justice Lavender said there was no provocation. Robson, who was blackmailing Mrs Kayll about the relationship with the teenager, almost committed a double murder, said the judge.

Over 10 days in November, she had transferred £29,000 to Robson and took out a £10,500 loan, having previously been solvent.

On November 15, Robson drove three hours from Glasgow to Linton, having bought a locksmith’s bar, a magnetic GPS car tracker, screwdrivers, pliers, a wrench and the ammonia which he decanted into a washing-up liquid bottle.

CCTV showed him “prowling” outside her house. Witnesses heard a woman shout “get out” and later that evening Robson knocked on his former neighbour’s house to say “Caroline was in a bad way” He was on the run for six days as his ex-partner’s life ebbed away in hospital.

The judge told him: “You ended her life and you brought grief and misery to the lives of others. Her ex-husband, Ian Kayll said that there are absolutely no words to describe her family’s feelings about her loss.”