A man kicked his wife to death after a "pathetically trivial" row over a broken vase, a court heard today.

Gerald Mooney, 40, denied murdering his 38-year-old wife Barbara, a prostitute, but admitted manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility.

Lewes Crown Court was told the couple, who had a history of violent domestic disputes, clashed on November 27 1999 at their shared home in Malt House Road, Crawley.

The pair had been seen together at a pub in West Green on the evening of the killing. Both were drunk. They left together and returned to their flat where an argument began.

A few days later Mooney, who also had a flat in the neighbouring Southgate district, told a friend he had killed his wife, a prostitute in Crawley who was heavily into drink and drugs, because she had slept with another man.

He asked his friend to call the police. Officers went to the couple's home and found Mrs Mooney's body, the court was told.

Richard Cherrill, prosecuting, said: "There was a lot of blood all over the place; blood on the walls and blood all over some newspapers."

Mrs Mooney had suffered massive head injuries, which a post-mortem examination found were inflicted by at least three heavy kicks.

When interviewed, Mooney told detectives a fight began when his wife knocked over a vase and he had kicked her to death. Police went to Mooney's Southgate flat and found clothes soaked in his wife's blood.

The court was told that the defendant had been an alcoholic for many years and would drink more than 200 cans of beer a week with his wife, whom he married in 1998.

Camden Pratt, defending, said: "This defendant accepts that he must be punished for the drunken violence that led to his wife's death.

"The intention in his mind was a drunken intent. There was a pathetically trivial dispute about a broken vase being knocked over. What followed was an uncontrolled attack."

Judge Richard Brown sentenced Mooney to six years in jail with an extended sentence of four years on licence.