A MAN who killed his former partner by stabbing her 40 times and cutting her throat only hours after being judged safe by mental health workers has been sentenced to be detained in a secure hospital.

Craig Sexton, 32, of South Shields, South Tyneside, was sentenced yesterday at Newcastle Crown Court after pleading guilty to the manslaughter of Lynda Lovatt on the grounds of diminished responsibility.

The order means that Sexton will be held in custody until doctors are satisfied he is safe to be released.

Sexton's family had convinced him to go to a hospital, disturbed by his increasingly erratic behaviour.

But when Sexton told them he was not "depressed, neurotic or psychotic", he was allowed to walk out, board a ferry and then walk into his victim's home.

He stabbed Lynda Lovatt, 29, more than 40 times and then cut her throat after turning up at her home to collect a father's day card from their two children.