A JEALOUS husband who shouted “you are the weakest link, goodbye” as he strangled his wife, must serve at least 14 years in jail for the murder, a judge has ruled.

Railway guard Richard Cooper, from Tonbridge, was convicted of murdering his wife Teresa Cooper, 46, at her Randolph Road flat in Gillingham, on March 20, 2001.

Sentencing him to life imprisonment, in February 2002, Judge Andrew Patience, at Maidstone Crown Court, spoke of the “sadism and gratuitous violence” which accompanied the attack.

Now, after reviewing the case at London’s Royal Courts of Justice, Mr Justice Mitting said the very least Cooper deserved behind bars was 14 years.

Even after he has served that minimum tariff, he will be released only if he manages to convince the Parole Board that he no longer poses a serious risk to the public.

“This killing was committed out of jealousy,” said Mr Justice Mitting, who went on to describe how, after reading an affectionate note from a former lover to his wife, Cooper had steamed open her reply.

He then bought a voice-activated tape recorder and fixed it under the table of the living room of her flat to record what would occur when the other man arrived.

After their meeting, he took the tape and listened to it in a pub.

“On his return, he was in what the trial judge described as 'a controlled rage’,” Mr Justice Mitting said.

“He was convinced that his wife had committed adultery in the flat.

“The ensuing argument between them activated the tape recorder. In consequence, what occurred in the 23 minutes before her death was recorded. Cooper told her that he had killed the lover and repeatedly said that she was going to die.

“He injured her face with broken glass and compressed her neck until she died.”

During Cooper’s trial, the jury was played the tape of Teresa’s dying moments.

Towards the end of the recording he could be heard to say: “Bye bye, bye bye,” followed shortly afterwards by the catchphrase: “You are the weakest link, goodbye.”

Cooper’s tariff means that even taking account of the time he spent on remand, he can make no application for parole until spring 2015.