A FORMER police station cleaner has been jailed for almost two decades after smothering his fiancee in a fit of anger during a camping weekend.

Controlling Christopher Cole, 31, killed his girlfriend at a seaside campsite after shouting "if you don't shut up, I'll shut you up".

He dialled 999 after spending the night in a tent with Sarah Clayton's body and pretended to do CPR as emergency services rushed to the scene.

Paramedics found the 21-year-old unresponsive at the Buckle campsite in Seaford at 6.43am on a Sunday in May 2018.

Forensic examination of Ms Clayton’s body could not find the exact cause of death.

They could not rule out Cole smothered her with a pillow.

He denied murdering her in a fit of anger.

But campers said that before her death they heard the sounds of pots and pans being thrown about in a drunken argument.

The Argus: Christopher Cole killed Sarah Clayton in their tentChristopher Cole killed Sarah Clayton in their tent

Duncan Atkinson QC for the prosecution told the court: “A number of witnesses heard sounds of the defendant becoming more agitated or aggressive as this argument went on.

“Two of them heard the defendant, in an angry tone, say that he would make Sarah stop.

“It was after this threat to make her stop that Sarah became quiet.”

The jury heard he used choking as a way of controlling previous girlfriends.

The court heard another ex-girlfriend had accused Cole of grabbing her by the neck.

Mr Atkinson described Cole as controlling and told the jury he smothered his fiancee in a fit of anger.

"You had become angry with Sarah and had sought to exert control over her by restricting her ability to breathe, as you had done in past," Mr Atkinson told him.

"I disagree with you totally," Cole said.

Cole was convicted of murder at Lewes Crown Court on June 26.

He held his head in his hands and fought back tears as he waited for the verdict.

Cole, of Clun Road, Wick, Littlehampton, he looked to the public gallery for support as he was taken down to the cells with his belongings in a supermarket carrier bag.

He was given a life sentence with a minimum of 16 years in jail.