A man who has been given a life sentence for smothering his partner after a row had previously killed a girlfriend.

Paul Plunkett, 62, killed Barbara Davison, 66, at her home in Redcar, Cleveland, on 15 August last year.

Plunkett had previously been imprisoned for manslaughter in the 1990s after he strangled a girlfriend.

Plunkett, who must serve a minimum of 23 years behind bars, pleaded guilty to Davison’s murder at Teesside crown court on Thursday.

He was arrested after the discovery of her body and charged with her murder two days later. At a hearing in October he denied the offence but changed his plea shortly before his trial began this week.

Last year, victim support groups called on MPs to back a new law allowing police to take proactive measures to find out whether a serious offender has a new partner, and if so to inform them of their previous convictions.

Plunkett, who has a number of historical convictions for violence against women, initially claimed he did not mean to kill Davison but to silence her during an argument.

He smothered Davison by forcing his hands over her mouth and nose.

It was revealed on Thursday that he had been sentenced to three years in prison in 1996 for the manslaughter of Jacqueline Aspery.

In that case, he applied so much pressure to Aspery’s throat that he fractured the cartilage around her larynx.

Emma Dowling from the CPS said: “Given the similarities between the death of Barbara Davison and the manslaughter of Jacqueline Aspery, the CPS made an application for his previous convictions to be revealed to the jury.

“Given the strength of the case against him, it is unsurprising that Plunkett has pleaded guilty to murder on the first day of this trial.”

After his sentencing, Davison’s family described Plunkett in a statement as “a lying, manipulative, evil coward who will never face up to what he has done and the lives he has ruined”.

“He’s denied six grandchildren of the love and caring they had with their gran. Not a day goes by we don’t think about her. We will never forgive him for what he has put our mam through.

“The only comfort we can take is knowing that hopefully he will never get out so he can’t ruin another family’s life.”

DI Darren Birkett, of Cleveland police, said Plunkett’s change of plea before the trial did “nothing to bring Barbara back or ease the devastating loss felt by her family”.

“Plunkett is a danger to women and will now likely spend the rest of his life in prison,” he said.

Clare’s law, named after Clare Wood, who was raped, strangled and set alight by her partner whose history of violence towards women she was unaware of, was rolled out in 2014. Although the scheme allows people to find out if their partner has a history of abuse, information is only disclosed upon request.

In January last year, Janet Scott, from Nottingham, was killed by Simon Mellors, who was released from prison on licence after murdering his former partner.

The same month, Theodore Johnson, who had twice been convicted of killing women he was in relationships with, pleaded guilty to murder after attacking his girlfriend with a claw hammer and then strangling her with a cord.