A CHEF has been jailed for 25 years for killing two of his girlfriends.

Robert Trigg was found guilty yesterday of murdering Susan Nicholson and the manslaughter of Caroline Devlin.

Today Justice Ingrid Simler sentenced him to life in prison with a minimum term of 25 years for murder with a concurrent sentence of 11 years for manslaughter.

She said he was responsible for the senseless and brutal deaths of two women.

Trigg frowned throughout the sentencing and then sighed as he was taken down

In a statement read to the court by prosecutor Duncan Atkinson, Ms Nicholson’s mother Elizabeth said the family were “devastated” by her death and had visited her grave every week since she died in 2011.

She remembered her as “bubbly” with a “great sense of humour”.

She said the family had spent six years fighting to get justice for her and their “relief” and “emotion” when Trigg’s guilty verdict was returned was “plain for the court to see”.

But she said: “The fight still goes on. We still seek answers to unexplained questions. Why is it that the police were unable to bring this case to court when we, Susan’s parents in our 80s, managed to?”

Brandyn McKenna, Ms Devlin’s son, branded Trigg a “monster” who killed the “most precious and beautiful person the world had ever seen.

When Trigg arrived at court that morning he initially ignored questions from reporters. But when asked why he allowed Ms Devlin’s children to go in and find her dead body, he stopped, turned and quoted a biblical reference.

The jury of seven men and five women took six-and-a-half hours of deliberations to reach its verdict after a 10-day trial.

The 52-year-old was accused of killing two of his former partners five years apart.

Ms Devlin, 35, was found dead in bed on Mothers' Day by one of her children as they went to ask what she wanted for breakfast at home in Cranworth Road, Worthing, on March 26, 2006.

Trigg claimed he accidentally rolled on top of 52-year-old Ms Nicholson when they were both asleep on the sofa in Rowlands Road, Worthing on April 17, 2011.

Inquests found the deaths were caused by natural and accidental causes respectively. But another pathologist then reviewed the post-mortem results and Trigg was questioned by police as a suspect in November.

Trigg, of Park Crescent, Worthing, denied both charges.

See the full story in tomorrow's Argus.