51-year-old Robert Lee, from Wentworth View, Wombwell, was sentenced to life imprisonment after he pleaded guilty to murdering Sally Jane Lee on the day he was due to stand trial.

For the first time, details of the horrific death she suffered at his hands were made public at Sheffield Crown Court.

Nicholas Campbell QC, prosecuting, said Lee murdered his estranged wife just five weeks after assaulting her in another fit of violence at their marital home on Locke Street, Barnsley.

The first attack was described by one doctor as the worse case of domestic violence she had dealt with in 12 years.

In the first incident Lee tried to strangle the mum-of-two - an accusation he denied.

But he accepted inflicting her injuries and on Tuesday he admitted causing her actual bodily harm.

The court heard Lee, who was on bail for the previous attack at the time of the murder, tracked his wife down to a house she was cleaning on Little Westfields, Royston, and struck as she was getting into her car.

Her terrified screams were heard by others and Lee was seen frogmarching her away from the car, striking her with a baseball bat before stabbing her to death in the neck and back.

Annette Eaden, who was pushing her grandson in his pram at the time of the murder, intervened and urged the killer to stop.

Lee told her he had just caught his wife in bed with another man, an allegation which later turned out to be untrue.

He threatened to attack Mrs Eaden with a knife when he saw her holding a mobile phone.

Mr Campbell QC said: "Jane Lee was screaming, pleading - using the words 'Please don't do this Bob'.

Then she saw Lee push his wife up against a garage "as if he was punching her".

He added: "Clearly the defendant was stabbing Jane Lee and it was then Mrs Eaden saw her drop to the ground bleeding."

Lee jumped into his wife's car and sped away, going on the run to Cleethorpes for three days where he spent his time drinking in pubs.

Peter Kelson QC mitigating said he could offer no justification or excuses for the frenzied attack, which he described as "brutal and dreadful".

"The assault was sadly a further episode in what was something of a turbulent marriage," he said.

He said Lee had gone to Royston to talk to his wife but had not planned to murder her.

"It appears the deceased had decided there would be no more, and on seeing the defendant she screamed and wanted to be away from him - he panicked."

"He bears absolute sorrow for what he did."

The Recorder of Sheffield, Judge Alan Goldsack QC, said Lee had intended to kill at the time of the murder but could not rule the killing had been premeditated.

"No sentence can undo the consequences of the offence to the victim's family, who have been devastated by what you did," he said.