THE husband of a woman who was battered to death at her home in Calcot has been jailed for 11 years.

Steven Grainger, 32, of Hatford Road, Reading, was jailed on Thursday after being found guilty of manslaughter by a unanimous jury at Reading Crown Court.

He had been charged with murdering his wife, Simone Grainger, at their home in Windsor Way on November 4, but was found guilty of the alternative charge.

Sentencing Grainger to 11 years in prison, the judge Mr Justice Knowles said that Simone had suffered a 'prolonged and sustained attack' at the hands of her husband.

He said: ""This was a sustained assault by you, and must have involved blows and punches, and strangulation.

"The neck compression alone must have lasted 15-30 seconds.

"You intended to cause her some injury.

"There was ample opportunity for you to come to your senses and stop.

"It would have been obvious to you that she was in distress and struggling to breathe."

The prosecution argued that Grainger had hit his wife round the head with a saucepan, strangled her and then rolled her body up in a rug.

But during the trial, Grainger had claimed that his wife had attacked him with a pair of scissors, and he had strangled her whilst trying to restrain her. He admitted to the jury that he had been 'a coward' in failing to call the emergency services when he discovered she was dead, and instead left Simone's body in the kitchen for her family to discover her.

Judge Knowles said: "In light of the injuries you inflicted, I am sure you battered Simone, and it mattered little whether that was with an object or with your fists.

"Having done what you did with her, you did not call for help. You left her body dumped in the kitchen for her family to find.

"You, you and you alone are responsible for what you did, and for Simone's death.

"No sentence I pass will bring Simone back to her family and friends."

Grainger will serve half of his 11-year sentence in prison, and the rest in the community.