A man who bludgeoned his partner to death and buried her body under the patio has been jailed for 25 years.

Former Gravesend taxi driver Nigel Jackson, 60, was accused of killing his wife of 27 years Brenda Davidson, 72, last year so he could move in with his lover.

He went on trial accused of first degree murder, corpse desecration and theft.

He was found guilty of his crimes, and today, sentenced to 25 years behind bars, according to Portuguese news website Correio Damanha.

A court in Portimao heard Jackson murdered his partner at their home in the Algarve, where they moved just over 10 years ago from their former house in Thames View, Cliffe Woods.

Jackson told the court that his wife, who had undergone surgery for cancer, may have taken her own life.

He said: “When I arrived home, from golf, she was on the floor... I assumed she’d committed suicide.

“She was talking about it all the time. She didn’t want to continue living with cancer.

“We had discussed what we wanted to do if either of us died and decided we wanted to be buried next to the animals in the garden.

“I honoured Brenda’s wishes. Sadly she died first.”

Jackson claimed he couldn’t remember the date of Mrs Davidson’s death but said, “I know Lewis Hamilton became world champion on that weekend”.

But state prosecutors said the burial was a deliberate attempt to cover up Brenda’s death so that Jackson could live off her wealth.