A MARRIED father-of-four has been found guilty of the brutal murder of his former girlfriend.

Stuart 'George' Thomas, 49, stabbed mum-of-three Katrina O'Hara to death at Jock's Barbers in Blandford on January 7 this year.

He was convicted by a majority verdict of 10 jurors to one. One juror was discharged at an earlier stage in the proceedings.

Katrina O'Hara's friends and family could be heard gasping and crying as the verdict was returned.

The couple had been involved in a "volatile" extra-marital relationship and jurors at Winchester Crown Court were told Thomas abducted and threatened to kill her less than two weeks before the fatal stabbing.

Jurors heard that Thomas was involved in a number of altercations with Miss O'Hara.

On Thursday, December 24 he threw a make-up brush at her following a verbal dispute, resulting in bruising to her back. Thomas also turned up uninvited to Katrina's address on Saturday, December 26, and pleaded with her to rekindle their relationship.

Thomas was arrested in late December 2015 and released on bail, on the condition that he did not contact Miss O'Hara.

Jurors were told that on January 7, Miss O'Hara, 44, was found in the East Street premises with two stab wounds to the chest.

She died minutes later due to the deep stab wounds, which had caused severe damage to her left lung.

Thomas, who had pinned Miss O'Hara against a car before chasing her into the barber's shop, was found in a nearby garden with injuries to his wrist which were so severe he needed surgery to try to restore the use of his left hand.

He had thrown the knife he used onto the flat roof of a nearby property, where it was later found.

Thomas, of Salisbury Road, Blandford, had denied murder, claiming he showed Miss O'Hara the knife, telling her he was going to kill himself.

He said they were then involved in a struggle and claimed her injuries were self-inflicted.

He will be sentenced at the same court in August.

Miss O'Hara's family read aloud impact statements to the court as Thomas stood in the dock.

Mother Mary O'Hara said: “Nothing can ever prepare you to hear such horrific news as ‘your daughter has been murdered’.

"For days after her death I had so many questions but I have had to wait nearly seven months to find out what did happen on that day to my precious Katrina.

“I have been heartbroken ever since. The wait for her body to be released to that we could lay her to rest was agonising. She did not deserve to die.

“The heartbreak is tremendous; something no one can ever describe in words - the pain I feel is sometimes indescribable. I will never see her smile again, hear her laughter again, share her birthdays with her – how could someone have taken this from me?”

Miss O'Hara's son Kyle Stark read his brother Dean’s statement to the court.

He said their "world stopped" when Miss O'Hara died.

“She overwhelmed us with her love," he said.

"Time and time again she stepped in and led us by the hand.

"She bandaged our knees, wiped away our tears.

"She gave us hope and faith and made us who we are today.

"Her grandchildren are no longer going to benefit from the love we have had.”

In his statement, Dean, 25, said that he, Kyle, 24, and sister Morgan 17, had suffered a “torturous” time throughout the trial and still have flashbacks to when they received the “devastating” news.

“We still need our mum, we need her every day and we can’t have her,” Kyle read.

“No words can describe how our worlds have changed.

"She was loved and loved in equal measure.

"We will continue to grow and become the people she wanted us to be.

"We will do our very best but we have to do so without her.

"We have no one to hold our hand like she did and that scares us beyond words.”

Detective Inspector Richard Dixey, of Dorset Police's Major Crime Investigation Team, said: "I am satisfied with the outcome of the investigation and my thoughts are with the family of Katrina who have behaved with restraint and dignity ever since this tragic event.

"I can only hope that the outcome of the court case offers some small comfort to them in the face of such heartbreak.

"Stuart Thomas was an abusive and controlling man who would not accept that his relationship with Katrina O’Hara was over.

"He sought to use harassment, violence, threats and emotional blackmail to control her behaviour, ultimately leading to her being stabbed to death.

"I would also like to thank officers from the Major Crime Investigation Team and other departments for their hard work. They have worked tirelessly to ensure that Thomas was brought to justice for his crime."