A former army fusilier has been found guilty of murdering his girlfriend in a frenzied knife attack at his Battersea home.

Desmond Sylva, 41, was convicted of murdering 31-year-old NHS nurse Simonne Kerr today (June 19) following a trial at the Old Bailey, previously admitting manslaughter but denying murder, citing depression.

But prosecutor Oliver Glasgow QC told jurors it was an all too familiar case of "sexual desire, appalling violence and desperate lies".

He said: "He wanted to restart a sexual relationship with Simonne Kerr. When he did not get what he wanted, he could not control his anger and he exploded."

Sylva, who had been discharged from the army in 2012 on medical grounds, attacked his girlfriend after an argument. She was found with more than 70 stab wounds in the bedroom of his home in Grayshott Road after Sylva phoned the police to confess having ‘committed a murder’ on August 15 last year - only a day after telling his brother he would kill himself or someone else.

A mere month prior to the killing, Sylva and Miss Kerr had rekindled their relationship which had ended earlier that year.

Louise Attrill, from the CPS said “This was a shocking attack on a woman who was busy dedicating her life to worthwhile causes. Having lost her six-year-old son to sickle cell disease, she was campaigning to raise awareness of the illness, and her charitable work also led her to sing in an NHS choir that performed on ITV’s ‘Britain’s got Talent’.

“The fact that her partner, a man she should have trusted without doubt, could end all of this in a fit of rage makes this even harder to comprehend.

“Sylva claimed that he could not be responsible for his actions because his depression impaired his mental function.

"The prosecution accepted that Sylva suffered with depression but was able to show that Sylva’s actions before and after the murder were not indicative of someone whose mental state meant that he did not understand what he was doing.

"Sylva’s mental condition did not provide him with any defence to this horrific crime. He chose to pick up a knife and he chose to use it again and again to stab Simone Kerr.

"His depression neither explains nor justifies his actions; his anger got the better of him and he simply lost his temper."

Sylva will be sentenced on June 28 at the Old Bailey.