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Matthew Ashill binged on cocaine, steroids, booze and cannabis for 12 hours before he battered, stabbed and strangled wife Clare in their bed.

The 37-year-old - who regularly dressed in women's clothes - ignored her pleas for mercy and only stopped when his dress became soaked in blood.

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The real-life Norman Bates attacked 31-year-old Clare with dumb bells, a claw hammer and a kitchen knife in a horrifying 30-minute ordeal.

The car factory worker then strangled her until he knew she was dead.

The struggle was so loud a neighbour heard Clare shout: "Matty, why are you doing this?"

Police said his wife of two years had suffered 80 injuries on her head, neck and body, including three fatal knife wounds to her heart. Ashill, from Leicester, then carried on drinking and taking drugs and later walked the dog and chatted to neighbours.

The next day he handed himself in to police and admitted, "I've killed my wife. I've stabbed her".

On Friday at Leicester Crown Court he was sentenced to life in prison and told he must serve at least 15 years behind bars.

The murder, in March, was chillingly similar to the slayings in the 1960 Alfred Hitchcock Hollywood thriller Psycho.

In it the main character Bates, played by Anthony Perkins, donned his mother's dress before knifing pretty motel guests.