William Billingham has been jailed for life with a minimum of 27 years for the murder of his eight-year-old daughter, Mylee.

Billingham, who will be 82 before his release from prison can be considered by the parole board, stared at the floor and shook his head as he was sentenced at Birmingham crown court on Tuesday.

The judge, Paul Farrer QC, said: “This offence was driven by jealousy and anger. You turned that anger upon Mylee and killed her in order to cause pain to her mother.

“As such, this was an act of revenge. Alternately, this was the brutal, cowardly killing of a defenceless and much-loved child who had her whole life ahead of her.”

Billingham was given a concurrent two-year sentence for making a threat to kill Mylee’s mother while holding a knife to her neck on the night of the murder.

A victim impact statement from Mylee’s mother, Tracey Taundry, described the family’s loss and heartache.

In the statement, read to the court by the prosecution barrister, Taundry said the actions of her ex-partner were “selfish and despicable”.

“How can I ever explain how the murder of my beautiful daughter – smiley Mylee – has affected me, her sisters and her immediate family?” she asked.

“Mylee was brutally taken from us by a man who was supposed to protect and to care for her. Since this incident I have struggled to sleep. I have constant nightmares and I relive that terrible night over and over again.

“I regularly hear Mylee’s voice and immediately start to look for her. None of us will ever get over what has happened.”

Before the sentence was passed, Billingham’s barrister revealed he had been verbally abused in the cells before being brought into court.

“Nobody sitting in this court hearing the victim impact statement could fail to be moved by it,” said Balraj Bhatia.

“Perhaps the biggest burden a parent can ever deal with is the loss of a child before they die. That burden must be magnified to an immeasurable degree when that child has died at your own hands.

“This court will punish him in terms of years. His punishment – to use his own words – is that he is still breathing. Your honour knows, during the course of this trial, that he tried to take his own life.

“Just this morning, as I was preparing him for the impact statement, there was a palpable rush of hatred from every prisoner that walked by the cell. To use his own words, he cannot live with this, nor does he desire to live with this. As I say, his real punishment is that he is still breathing.”