A YOB who stabbed a dad-of-five to death with a broken sambuca bottle has today been caged for 16 years.
Richard McAuley, 23, slashed Mark Miles' neck after being confronted over calling the 44-year-old's wife a "bug-eyed p***head".
The three had been drinking together with their neighbour Sadie Marchant at her home in Margate, Kent last October.
McAuley was said to have first made comments about Ms Marchant before turning his attention to wife Victoria Miles.
Mrs Miles, 42, told cops McAuley said "something sexual" about her, which she said her husband "took the wrong way".
She told police her husband confronted McAuley and told him : "That's my wife."
McAuley then grabbed the bottle, smashed it on a chair and struck Mr Miles at least twice with it.
The fatal blow cut a major artery in Mr Miles' neck.
Mrs Miles was stabbed in the arm while trying to protect her husband.
McAuley denied murdering Mr Miles but was found guilty after the jury deliberated for one hour on Friday.
During the trial, McAuley said he could remember insulting Mrs Miles, claiming he called her a "bug-eyed p***head", and then waking up in the back of a police car.
Judge David Griffith-Jones QC described McAuley's actions as "utterly senseless" before handing him a minimum term of 16 years at Maidstone Crown Court, Kent, today.
McAuley will also serve six years concurrently for wounding Mrs Miles with intent to cause her grievous bodily harm.
Mr Griffith-Jones said he found the excuse of memory loss "hard to accept".
Calls of "love you Rich" came from the public gallery as he left the dock wearing a grey suit.
McAuley hung his head prosecutor Simon Taylor read a victim impact statement on behalf of Mrs Miles.
In it, the distraught wife said: "To begin with I felt really numb and it slowly started to turn to anger.
"I'm looking forward to getting the court case over so we can start to move on with our lives.
"I want Richard to understand what he has done and receive justice for his actions."
She went on to say her youngest daughter Lucy sprays a teddy bear with her dad's aftershave to help her through night terrors.
Her eldest has been excluded from school multiple times while struggling to deal with the loss of her father, Mrs Miles said in her statment.
Mr Miles was also stepdad to Yasmin, Safia, 20, and Shakira, 19, and "cared for them as if they were his own".
Shakira was asleep when she was woken up to Ms Marchant's screams just before 2am.
The teen went to her house and saw Mr Miles on the sofa and "blood everywhere".
Shakira described the scene: "Mum had her hands on Mark's neck. Mark was trying to get up but he couldn't.
"Mum was telling him not to leave, begging him not to go and leave her with the kids."
Safia also recalled seeing blood "spurting everywhere", and noticed Mrs Miles had been cut on her arm.
Mum was telling him not to leave, begging him not to go and leave her with the kids.
She added: "I saw my mum on top of Mark who was on the sofa. My mum had blood in her hair and on her face.
"She was sitting on Mark trying to stop the bleeding. There was also blood all up the walls and on the carpet.
"Mark was trying to get up saying 'I'm going to kill him, I'm going to f***ing kill him'. My mum was telling him to stay still."
Safia and Shakira saw McAuley, someone who visited their home often, on the street and he was described as being "really calm".
Safia continued: "His face was covered in so much blood I couldn't even see his skin.
"I screamed at him saying 'Why would you do that? What have you done? and started hitting him with my hands, getting blood all over them and on me.
"He grabbed hold of my hands and said 'Do you think I'd do something like that?'
"I pushed him and punched him. He then screamed 'I'm sorry'."
A witness who had rushed to the scene to give Mr Miles first-aid later told police it was "like a horror movie" with blood covering the walls, the carpet, and soaked in to the sofa.
Mr Miles suffered multiple wounds to his head and neck, resulting in a "massive, catastrophic haemorrhage" and cardiac arrest before being pronounced dead just before 3am.
When McAuley was arrested in a nearby street and told Mr Miles had died the police body-worn camera footage showed him replying: "Good. He deserved it."
McAuley, of Cliftonville, Kent, told the court his memory of events was "hit and miss", having drunk throughout the day and evening, and smoked several cannabis joints.
McAuley accepted he had killed Mr Miles, and he maintained he could not recall injuring him and denied he would have attacked him.
He added his reaction to being told of Mr Miles's death and his abusive and foul-mouthed behaviour to police was "disgusting and appalling".
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