A violent thug who battered his girlfriend before drowning her in a bathtub has been jailed for life.

David Harper, 27, who has a history of domestic violence towards women, beat and strangled mother-of-three Stacey Quigley, aged 24, at her home in Glenhurst Road, Burnage.

He left her body in a bath and called for an ambulance the following day from a telephone box near the house, telling the call handler Stacey was dead.

Police were sent to the house and found her fully clothed body in the bath. A post mortem examination found she had been strangled and sustained more than 80 injuries on her body but the final cause of death was drowning.

At the time of the attack on May 31st this year, Harper was on bail for an assault on a former girlfriend.

Harper, of Glenhurst Road, pleaded guilty to murder at Manchester Crown Court. He was jailed for life and was told he must serve a minimum of 15 years in prison before he can be considered for release.

Judge Clement Goldstone said: "Cruel and wicked are words that do not do justice to what you did. You have deprived three young children of their mother and her family have lost a loving daughter and sister.

"The sentence upon them will truly be a life sentence, as in legal terms it will be on you.

"You will only be released if and when the authorities deem you no longer a danger to the public. I see you as a very dangerous young man and much will have to change before you are released."

Stacey was the mother of two boys aged five and three and a 10-month-old baby girl.

Andy Tattersall, who led the investigation into the murder for Greater Manchester Police, said: "Stacey was a much loved mother, daughter and sister who had her whole life ahead of her.

"She will not get to watch her children grow up and they will now have to do so without their mother.

"In stark contrast Harper is a violent bully who has previous convictions for assault and it would appear that hurting women, especially those he is supposed to care about, is second nature to him.

"Stacey's murder is a tragic example of the potential consequences of domestic abuse. Many people suffer time and again before reporting matters to police and I would urge anyone who is a victim to call police.

"We can now act on information or evidence from a victim's family, friends or neighbours and have specialist domestic abuse investigators in place to provide a first response to victims and support them throughout the criminal justice process."