A jealous and controlling boyfriend who stabbed his girlfriend to death after she tried to end their relationship has today been found guilty of her murder.

Jonathan Tebbs, 46  of Stapleton Hall Road, Finsbury Park stabbed 40-year-old council boss Katherine Dixon on Sunday June 30 2013 in Chestnut Court, Ullathorne Road, on the Wandsworth side of Streatham.

Tebbs used a Swiss Army Knife to stab Katherine, known as Kate, 29 times. The knife pierced her heart and lungs.

He then carried her into the shower and washed her lifeless body before attempting to scrub her Streatham flat clean of blood stains.

Southwark Crown Court heard that at the time of her death Miss Dixon, an Oxbridge graduate was employed as Islington Council's head of strategy, equality and performance.

She and Tebbs had been in an on-off relationship for some 12 years, with Tebbs becoming increasingly controlling and possessive believing they were 'meant to be together'.

Wandsworth Times:

Murderer: Jonathan Tebbs read Oscar Wilde after stabbing Kate Dixon 29 times and washed her dead body in the shower

Miss Dixon tried to extricate herself from him on a number of occasions and told friends that Tebbs would verbally bully and intimidate her and she was frightened and fearful of him.

Miss Dixon began using Blues Match - an online dating site for Oxbridge graduates - and in March 2013 met a man with who she began a relationship.

In the days leading up to her death she exchanged numerous messages with him. Tebbs became suspicious and took her mobile phone and forwarded the texts to himself.

On the night of June 30, Ms Dixon finally summoned the courage to tell Tebbs she was leaving.

Before he called the police to confess, Tebbs searched the internet for wills and transferred money into his sister's account. He also looked for poetry and read Oscar Wilde's The Ballad of Reading Gaol.

He also wrote a five-page statement which ended with: "My devoted love for her, combined with the pain of betrayal, made me do something I thought was never in me and will regret for the rest of my life and beyond.

"I wanted her to see that love can mean sacrifice (not selfishness) and to love is everything."

Detective Inspector Louise Knipe, from the Metropolitan Police Homicide and Major Crime Command, said: "What was clear to us throughout this investigation was that Kate Dixon had finally summoned the courage she needed to leave Tebbs.

"However he was of the mindset that if he couldn't have her, no one else would. He wouldn't allow her to leave and he made sure of that by brutally stabbing her to death.

"Tebbs's behavior was not as a result, as he tried to portray in court, loss of control at suddenly finding out about the new person Miss Dixon had met.

"He knew about this in the week before he killed her and after he did, he was clear-headed.

"He scrubbed the flat, he was organised and he was putting his house in order. I'm pleased the jury rejected his claims today and convicted him of murder."

He is due to be sentenced later today.

The murder happened in Ullathorne Road, on the Tooting/Streatham border

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