A double murderer who appeared in court in a hospital bed has been sentenced to at least 30 years in prison for killing his ex-wife and mother-in-law.
Sergei Zolotovsky, 44, stabbed Svetlana Zolotovska, 40, as she walked to work in Beckton Park, east London, in 2010.
He then killed Antonina Belska, 70, at his former marital home in Newham.
The Russian-born welder, who was furious about his divorce settlement, then tried to set fire to the house before cutting his wrists and throat.
'Sinner'
The couple had been married for 20 years and the attack happened two days after the "acrimonious" divorce.
Passing sentence at the Old Bailey, Judge Stephen Kramer QC said: "In your view your ex-wife was a sinner, indeed you wrote a note calling her a sinner.
"In your opinion she had taken everything and left you with nothing.
"The attack on your ex-wife was pitiless. I'm satisfied that you were prepared to use extreme violence to get your revenge.
"You inflicted savage injuries on her in anger by stabbing and slashing her with the knife you had bought for the purpose.
"Not content with doing that, you then ran to Leamouth Road and finding Antonina Belska there, you killed her too."
'Abject horror'
Twelve days after the murders, Zolotovsky, of Stratford, east London, tried to commit suicide by throwing himself from a prison landing and was paralysed from the waist down.
This meant he was allowed to appear at the Old Bailey in a hospital bed.
A jury took just over half an hour to convict him of double murder in March.
In a victim impact statement read to the court during sentencing, Ms Zolotovska's brother and Mrs Belska's son Cheslav Belsky said the family had suffered "indescribable grief" when they heard their relatives had been murdered "in the most horrific and merciless way".
"I don't know how I can describe my feelings accurately.
"I can only say they were feelings of abject horror, numbing shock and complete disbelief at such brutal and barbaric murders," the statement added.
-BBC
