A woman has been sentenced to life after recruiting two men to murder her husband after meeting them in a pub.

Charlotte Collinge, 45, was jailed for a minimum of 23 years, while Stephen Shreeves, 40, and Kelvin Dale, 27, were each jailed for 18 years.

Dale and Shreeves

Sentencing the three at Nottingham crown court, the judge said: "The killing of Clifford Collinge in his own home was a truly shocking offence.

"On the evidence I have heard, I'm satisfied he was a man who offered no harm to any of you and who indeed had, over a number of years, tolerated the willful and manipulative behaviour of an unfaithful wife."

During the trial, the court heard that Collinge met the two men in the pub before inviting them back to the marital home in Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, on the promise of sex on 8 October last year.

Clifford Collinge

Clifford Collinge was found dead in a pool of blood with 46 separate injuries on the kitchen floor of the house in Sandy Lane later that night.

A clamp had been used in the attack on the 61-year-old.

A jury convicted Collinge, Shreeves and Dale of murder last week. Another man, Robert Proud, 36, was cleared of murder by the same jury. The court heard that Collinge met the two men in the pub for the first time last October. Shreeves said he was aware of her reputation and that she had the nickname "Charlotte the harlot". He said there were rumours that she took men back to her house and had sex with them while her husband watched.

During the evening, Shreeves and Dale, who both denied Collinge's murder, snorted cocaine in the toilets of the bar and drank a number of pints. He said Collinge invited them back to her house for sex and told them no one was at home.

"She behaved very sexually towards everyone," he said. "Someone said if you buy her half a lager she'll do anything, so I bought her two, to laughter from the group we were with," he said.

On approaching her house, Collinge said she hated her husband and asked them if they knew anyone who could kill him, Shreeves said.

In police interview, he also told officers she had said: "I want him dead."

He said: "We just laughed but then the penny started to drop that she was a little bit more dangerous than we first thought.

"I thought it was a setup."

Sentencing the three the judge said: "You, Shreeves, and you, Dale, were responsible for this attack. You, Charlotte Collinge, were not present at the violence but you instigated it."

He said the two men carried out the brutal attack fuelled by alcohol and illegal drugs, probably not even knowing her husband's name, after going back to the house on the promise of sex.

The judge said there was a clear intention to kill "born out of the ferocity of the attack" but that there was little pre-planning involved.

He said on her return to the house, Collinge stepped over her dying husband's body to recover her cannabis and laptop. "He would have lingered, fatally injured, for at least 20 minutes in severe pain, struggling for breath and unable to get help."

During the trial, the court heard that the couple, who had been together for 17 years in total, had a rocky relationship peppered with breakups and reconciliations, and divorce had been discussed.

The three stared straight ahead as they were given life sentences by the judge.

Sentencing Collinge, who looked emotionless in the dock, the judge said: "You were the instigator of this offence. You had considered the killing of your husband for your own selfish reasons."

He said one of the motives must have been for financial gain and her strong desire to be "out of her marriage and rid of him".

The judge told her she would serve a minimum term of 23 years before being considered for release on licence. Shreeves and Dale were handed a minimum term of 18 years each.