A BOURNEMOUTH man who murdered his ex-lover in a jealous rage in front of their three-year-old daughter has been locked up for life.

Piotr Zasada, 33, repeatedly stabbed Katarzyna Ryba in October last year after discovering her affair with a police officer assigned to protect her.

Judge Guy Boney told Zasada, of Norwich Road, he must serve a minimum of 14 years and 62 days of his life sentence before he would be considered for release.

Zasada, originally from Krakow in Poland, had denied the murder of Ms Ryba, 26, on the grounds of diminished responsibility but pleaded guilty to the killing last week.

Passing sentence at Winchester Crown Court yesterday, Judge Boney said Zasada had a history of harassment and violence towards women who rejected him.

He said: “This was a ferocious and merciless attack against an utterly defenceless woman, with a devastating weapon.

“On the night of the killing, you armed yourself with knives and clearly had violence in mind.

“You disregarded your daughter’s pleas to stop and then she had to watch as you threw her mother’s body from a window.”

Zasada’s five-year relationship with Ms Ryba broke down in September last year.

Following an alleged assault by Zasada, the waitress moved herself and the couple’s daughter, Michelle, to a friend’s flat in Wellington Road.

Ms Ryba was forced to take out a harassment order against her jealous ex as he continued to threaten and stalk her.

PC Richard Allan was assigned to her case and though he initially resisted advances from the mother, the pair eventually began an affair.

The officer had spent the night at the Wellington Road flat on the night of the murder, leaving 90 minutes before an enraged Zasada arrived armed with kitchen knives.

Mitigating, Oba Nsugbe QC said Zasada’s young family had meant “everything” to him and he slipped into a downward spiral when he became unemployed last year.

When he lost his partner and daughter, his life “collapsed”, he added.

Mr Nsugbe said Zasada was also diagnosed with a severe adjustment disorder over his inability to accept the break-up.

Judge Boney said he took the disorder into account, as well as Zasada’s previous good character. But he could not ignore the “aggravating factors” of the collection of the knives, the presence of Michelle and the throwing of the dying body from the window.

An IPCC investigation into Dorset Police’s contact with Ms Ryba prior to her death was launched last year.