A KILLER battered his former partner as her young sons lay listening to her cries in their bedrooms – then raped her as she lay dying.

Kelly McKitten was punched and kicked more than 100 times by Stuart Cummings over a period of several hours at the home they once shared.

Her children, aged four and eight, cowered under their duvets during the prolonged assault and saw her sobbing at the bottom of the stairs with her head in her hands.

The 31-year-old victim suffered a fatal brain injury after being beaten in various rooms, most of the injuries inflicted to her head and face.

The killer then tore off her clothes and raped her as she lay on the floor of her home in Gardiner Crescent, Pelton Fell, near Chester-le-Street.

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Stuart Cummings

Cummings was yesterday sentenced to life imprisonment for the attack, with the judge ordering that he cannot apply for parole until he has served at least 24 years.

The McKitten family yesterday thanked police for their support and compassion and said they could now try to move on with their lives.

But a family spokesman added: “You will have heard this many times before, but it really does feel as if your heart is being ripped out just to know that we will never seen Kelly again, and not having her in our lives is almost too much to bear.

“As hard as it is for us, her family, no one can even imagine how her two young sons must feel without the mother who adored them – two innocent boys who were witness to their mother’s violent rape and murder.

“These two boys and all of Kelly’s family ultimately have the life sentence – not Cummings.”

Newcastle Crown Court heard how the couple’s sixyear relationship, during which the 27-year-old road worker was serially unfaithful, had ended last Christmas.

On February 20, Cummings turned up at her home after drinking vodka.

He flew into a jealous rage because Miss McKitten was on the phone to a male friend she had met the week before.

Miss McKitten’s oldest son, who was from a previous relationship but who referred to Cummings as “dad”, made a statement on video to investigating officers that he had heard his mother crying and heard shouting and swearing.

The boy said he had seen his mother wiping blood from her face in the bathroom, and that his younger brother had gone downstairs after hearing shouting, only to be sent back to bed by his mother.

Both then lay in bed listening as the attack unfolded.

Christopher Knox, prosecuting, said: “He thought his mother was petrified. He didn’t know what they were arguing about.

“He heard his mother fall back downstairs and his father at the top of the stairs.

“He heard his dad kicking and punching her.”

Mr Knox added: “He described seeing his mother sitting at the bottom of the stairs with her head in her hands crying.

“The boys were told to go back to bed. They went, hiding under their quilts, clearly distressed.”

Mr Knox told the court: “There is no doubt Kelly was alive for some time after the injuries occurred.

“It was during that time the sexual assaults took place.”

After the killing, Cummings tried to wash his bloodsoaked clothing and the walls of the house, and then texted his new girlfriend, Kirsty.

Mr Knox told the court: “He had clearly made no attempt to call the ambulance service or anyone for help when it might have done some good.

Instead, he was texting and phoning Kirsty.

“By the time the ambulance attended that morning, she was dead and had been dead for some time.”

The emergency services went to the house after Cummings phoned his mother and told her what he had done.

The court heard Cummings spoke to the boys after the killing and told them he had not meant what he had done.

Cummings, 27, of Derwent Close, Sacriston, County Durham, admitted murder at an earlier hearing.

Sentencing, Judge David Hodson told Cummings: “The circumstances of this killing can properly be described as being a frenzied, brutal and persistent attack of physical violence extending over a period of some hours, coupled with sexual violence.

“One aggravating factor is the fact this killing was carried out with Kelly’s two sons not only being in the house, but hearing much and seeing some of what was happening.

“The immediate and longterm physical effects of their being present when their father killed their mother are as yet unknown, but must in any view be profound and traumatic with unforeseeable consequences.”

Tim Roberts, mitigating, said Cummings completely lost control on the night of the killing.

He said: “He accepts that he alone must bear the full and excruciating responsibility for the irreparable harm he’s done.”