A man who butchered his ex-girlfriend to death after she told him she was pregnant had planned the attack for months even taking to Twitter to boast of his plans.
Adam Whelehan, 23, exchanged disturbing messages with friends in the months leading up to the death of his former partner Natalie Jarvis, including a tweet saying he 'might kill', days before the brutal murder.
The BT apprentice stabbed Miss Jarvis, 23, more than 20 times in the neck before leaving her to die by the side of a country lane in Swanley, Kent in October last year.
Whelehan also tormented Miss Jarvis during her final moments by breaking her mobile phone in front of her as she cried 'I am dying, please call my mum,' a court heard.
Days before carrying out the brutal murder on October 3, Whelehan tweeted: ‘It’s alright to kill someone these days, isn’t it? Think I might do that.’
Whelehan, who used the multi tool given to him by BT to inflict stab wounds up to 11cm deep in Natalie’s throat, later wrote on the blogging site: 'How to do it #murderousmind.'
Whelehan, described by police as ‘a cold, calculated killer’ showed no remorse during a three-week trial at Maidstone Crown Court.
The court heard the pair had been a couple for four months and had continued to have a sexual relationship after the breakup.
Whelehan lured McDonald’s worker Natalie to her death by promising that the pair were going to discuss their relationship and 'have sex in his car'.
Whelehan, from Sidcup, Kent, who denied murder, claimed he attacked Natalie in self-defence after she lunged at him with the knife and that she had been using her false pregnancy claim to harass him in the weeks before her death.
Members of Natalie’s family were reduced to tears when his friend Stephen Hughes told the jury Whelehan had boasted Natalie pleaded with him to call her mother as she lay dying on the road.
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Whelehan taunted Natalie, who was dressed in her pyjamas and slippers, by breaking her mobile phone in front of her as she cried ‘I’m dying, please call my mum.’
Sentencing Whelehan to a minimum of 26 years, judge Philip Statman said: ‘This was premeditation being nurtured over a period of many weeks.
‘You had with you in your vehicle a weapon with you with the express purpose of stabbing Natalie to death.'
Callous: As his ex-girlfriend Natalie Jarvis lay bleeding in the road, begging for Whelehan to call her mother, he taunted her by breaking her phone in front of her before leaving her to die by the roadside
‘You proceeded to inflicting 20 stab wounds to her neck and left her dead in the country lane.
‘Your actions were callous, savage and premeditated and in giving evidence to this court you showed no sign or indicated a flicker of emotion.
Natalie’s distraught mum Adele Jarvis, 50, said: ‘Our family has been horrifically ripped apart by the loss of the most loving sister and daughter anyone could ask for.
‘Our home and lives are now a void of crushing silence without Natalie’s insatiable lust for life.
‘Our hearts have been shattered and can never be mended. Our lives will never be the same again without our sweet beautiful Natalie.’
‘She was just so lovely, she was loveable, she was loud, she was everything to us, she was my baby.
‘I just can’t see my life without her. She loved her family and we loved her. What Whelehan has done is horrific. He has not shown an ounce of remorse.’
Jurors were shown graphic photographs of the scene showing blood splatterings stretching 100yards where Whelehan continued to attack Natalie as she tried to run away from him.
Detective Inspector Gavin Moss, of Kent and Essex police, said after the verdict: ‘What immediately struck me was the distance from where we saw the first spot of blood to where Natalie ended up.
‘That was over a distance of about 150 metres, and it beggars belief what that poor girl must have gone through in that time.
‘This was a cold, calculated, brutal murder of a young female who had her whole life in front of her.’
A second man Thomas Fuller who the prosecution claimed was the getaway driver was cleared of murder despite admitting hiding in the boot of Whelehan’s car as Natalie was being slaughtered.