THE family of a mother-of-two who was stabbed to death by her former partner are facing further agonising months before they learn her killer's fate.

Craig Sexton, 31, stabbed Lynda Lovatt more than 40 times and then slit her throat after turning up at her home in the hope of collecting a father's day card from their two children.

The youngsters, James, seven, and Amy, four, slept through the sustained attack on their mother at the home she once shared with Sexton, in South Shields, South Tyneside, on June 18, last year.

At a Newcastle Crown Court hearing earlier this year, Sexton admitted manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility after psychiatrists agreed he was suffering an abnormality of the mind at the time of the killing.

Prosecutors dropped the charge of murder after he entered his guilty plea.

Judge David Hodson made an interim hospital order under the Mental Health Act at the last hearing and his case was back before the court yesterday.

Sexton did not appear, but defence barrister Toby Hedworth QC told the court how it could be another three months before Sexton can be sentenced.

Judge Hodson adjourned the case, so Sexton, of North Shields, North Tyneside, can be further assessed and ordered the case should return before the court in 28 days for an update on his condition.