Pigeon fancier strangled married lover, 48, on their bed and then set fire to house and her body with their love letters strewn across floor

• Stephen Streener, 49, has been jailed for a minimum of 18 years for killing Jacqueline Green
• The murderer throttled her then started blazes on his bed and in his house to destroy evidence
• Streener then fled the scene and returned slightly later 'in shock' to hide his involvement
• He also sent her loving texts, and a message to her husband from Jacqueline's phone saying she was leaving him on day she died
• Telling police a 'pack of lies' he then said her husband and son had used a hitman, but was found guilty of the killing and sentenced today

Killer: Stephen Streener, outside Newcastle Crown Court, murdered his married lover Jacqueline Grant by strangling her with a piece of synthetic cord and then leaving her body on their burning bed

A killer has been jailed for 18 years after strangling his married lover before setting fire to her body and his own house to destroy any evidence.
Pigeon fancier Stephen Streener battered Jacqueline Grant senseless and then killed her by wrapping a cord around her neck in Choppington, Northumberland.
The 48-year-old victim had moved into his home when her family thought she was with friends but was brutally murdered in November last year when she wouldn't leave her husband.
Streener then tried to cover his tracks by sending loving texts to Mrs Grant, having previously sent one to her husband telling him she was leaving him from her own phone on the day she died.
He also told police a 'pack of lies' to try to pin it on her estranged spouse and son, claiming they had hired a hitman to kill her.
But now the 49-year-old has been found guilty of her murder after a trial at Newcastle Crown Court and sentenced to life, with a minimum of 18 years.
Judge Paul Sloan said: 'Mrs Grant could not bring herself to end her marriage and to inform her husband of her relationship with you.
'I am satisfied that it is you that decided to force the issue of bringing matters to a head, to use Mrs Grant's phone to send texts to her husband informing him Mrs Grant was leaving him.
'Precisely what happened when you returned home having sent that text only you will know.
'But it may well have been the case that you informed Mrs Grant you had sent the text, causing her distress and led to a confrontation between you.

Murdered: Jacqueline Grant, right, died brutally at the hands of her lover in November last year, and her killer then tried to pin it on her estranged husband Robert, left

'Something happened which clearly angered you.'
During sentencing, it was heard that Streener had a history of previous convictions dating back to 1979.
These included an arson offence in 1981, and in 1984 he was imprisoned for four years for an offence of grievous bodily harm.

Judge Sloan added: 'There was clearly a degree of pre-meditation.
'She was clearly vulnerable to an attack from someone she trusted.
'It was because she trusted you that you were able to take her by surprise.

Crime scene: Streener set fire to his house in Choppington, Northumberland, with the body of his lover Jacqueline Grant inside

'You punched her to the head. You then strangled her to death.
'You clearly intended to kill her.
'You have never accepted responsibility for Mrs Grant's death, making false alibis at trial.
'You made a cowardly attempt during the trial to incriminate Mr Grant senior and junior in the killing of Mrs Grant.
'Not withstanding their loss, Mr Grant's fanily have conducted themselves with enormous dignity throughout the course of these proceedings.
'There is only one sentence that can be imposed in your case and that is a sentence of imprisonment for life.'
Streener had tried to hide his murder after leaving the crime scene and then turning up again 'in shock'.

Investigation: Streener tried to bamboozle police by appearing at the house in shock and later tried to pin it on Jacqueline's husband and son

After the fire was put out a series of love letters between Streener and his lover Mrs Grant had been laid out in the living room, probably to suggest her husband had found them and then killed her.
One note, which appeared to be from Mrs Grant to Streener said: 'Love you darling, from your wife xxxxxx', which was obviously a nickname for her lover.
Mrs Grant’s badly burnt body was then found upstairs on the smouldering bed inside the locked house.
After her killing and shortly before the body was found, Streener sent a message to Mrs Grant’s phone, which he was carrying, that said: 'Hi babe, just finishing pigeons off then on way for chinese. Darling, I love you darling/ God I love you sweetheart. xxx'
Streener had also been posting on Facebook that he was ‘in love with Jackie G’ and announced they were going to get married.
During the trial grieving widower Robert Grant told the court he was convinced his wife was coming back to him and was simply taking time out to think while staying with a friend.
He said he knew nothing about the affair she was having with Streener.
Mr Grant told the court: 'I just felt like I just needed to give her the time she asked for.
'She said "I will come back, give me a couple of weeks and I will come back."
'I didn’t want to start pushing her incase I pushed her away.
'I wanted to carry on with my marriage to Jackie.'
Mr Grant said on the day of his wife’s death he received a text message from her phone which said ‘Bob, I’m leaving you for good.’
After he received the message he desperately tried to get in touch with his wife but Streener answered her phone.
He then said he was ‘tossing and turning’ in bed that night when the police came to his door to tell him his wife was dead.
While giving evidence during the trial Streener claimed Mrs Grant had been killed by a hitman who was hired by Mrs Grant’s husband and son.
He said gangsters must have turned up looking for him but strangled his lover when he was not at home.
Streener told jurors: 'I’m not saying the Grants were the killers, it was someone on their behalf.
'Someone went in the house that day. Maybe not to murder her, maybe to come after me.'
Streener told jurors he and Mrs Grant had been childhood sweethearts but had  gone their separate ways and both married other people.
It was just a few months before her death they got back in touch after a chance  meeting.
Prosecutors said Streener may have snapped and killed Mrs Grant when she said she wanted to make a go of her marriage rather than continue seeing him.
Prosecutor Alistair MacDonald told the court: 'Jacqueline Grant was a lady who had been in a relationship with the defendant and who had been living at the address for three to four months by the time of her death.
'We cannot say whether the fire was set immediately after he killed Mrs Grant or whether he did so later.
'However, the prosecution submit it is clear this fire was set specifically to destroy the evidence of what had happened to Mrs Grant.
'We say that because of the fact the fire was set on the very bed which she was lying, in the areas immediately around the body in more than one location on that bed and also because she was dead by the time the fire started.
'The defendant and Mrs Grant had been having an affair for some months and she had been living there.
'It is clear he wanted Mrs Grant to tell her husband she wanted her marriage to end and wished to marry the defendant.“It may be we will never know if she shared that wish.'
The court heard the couple had been on a romantic night away to a hotel in Scotland just before the killing.
But Mr MacDonald said: 'Something happened in that house on that morning that led to her being strangled by the defendant and the setting of this fire in an attempt to cover his tracks and to raise the idea it has been an intruder or intruders who committed these acts while he was elsewhere.'