Thomas Peter murdered Karen Peter and tried to set her body on fire in their Romford home in August last year.
The 50-year-old was found guilty of her death and arson, at the Old Bailey today.
The jury was told months before he killed Karen, Peter took out a life insurance policy for the pair of them – where he would get a £310,000 pay out if Karen died.
He also told police after her body was found Karen had "been playing up recently" and had "changed", before he claimed they argued before he lit candles and she went for a walk.
When he was told he was arrested on suspicion of his wife's murder he said "no, no, no, no" but didn't ask what had happened to Karen.
Peter and Karen married in 1994 and had three children together, but they divorced in 2010 after Peter became unfaithful, violent and controlling.
They re-married in February 2012 after continuing to live together.
Weeks after she told one of their daughters she was unhappy in the relationship, the children were woken by a muffled scream from their parents' bedroom.
Peter kicked the door shut and told them he was naked and had hurt his knee, telling them Karen had gone for a walk.
This was a vicious and merciless murder carried out by Peter in the family home while his three daughters slept in nearby rooms.
But when they called their mother's phone they heard it ringing from their bedroom.
Eventually they heard the sound of something being dragged upstairs, and found their dad behind a locked door which he refused to open.
One of his daughters made a harrowing call to police saying "I think my mum's been strangled".
As one of the daughter's tried to get help from next door, Peter then told the neighbour the "kids are saying I’ve killed their mum, but I haven’t".
He continued to repeat that Karen had gone for a walk and repeatedly told the neighbour to go.
Karen’s parents arrived and Peter again lied telling them she had gone for a walk and that he would not hurt her.
The concerned children called firefighters when they saw smoke coming from the bedroom – Peter tried to claim he had "lit a candle and it had fallen over" as his children tried to get into the locked room.
'I THINK MY MUM'S BEEN STRANGLED'
But when firefighters broke down the bedroom door and found Karen inside, badly burned and with cloth stuffed in her mouth.
A post-mortem examination gave the cause of death as compression of the neck.
Peter will be sentenced at the Old Bailey court on Monday.
Detective Sergeant Perry Benton, the investigating officer from the Met’s Homicide and Major Crime Command, said: “Peter is an evil man and I am delighted he has been convicted and will face the consequences of his heinous crime.
"This was a vicious and merciless murder carried out by Peter in the family home while his three daughters slept in nearby rooms. Peter’s actions were sustained and deliberate, he meant to kill Karen.
"He then callously set fire to her body and the house in a bid to destroy evidence, also putting his daughters’ lives at risk.
“He lied again and again as to his wife’s whereabouts and sought to prevent their daughters, the bin men, and the next door neighbour from intervening.
“Throughout this whole period, Peter did not demonstrate one ounce of compassion or concern for his wife or children.
“Peter refused to admit his guilt and has selfishly forced his daughters to re-live that awful morning at trial."
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