The former East Anglian Daily Times sub-editor convicted of murdering his wife has been handed a life sentence.

Raymond Singh, 30, denied stabbing his 39-year-old British wife Wendy to death in May last year at their home in the Fijian capital Suva.

But in the early hours of this morning at the Fiji High Court Justice Daniel Goundar handed Singh the life sentence, ruling that he must serve at least 18 years.

He agreed with his five assessors who had found Singh guilty of murder a day earlier, saying the act “was not accidental or committed in self defence”.

The murder occurred on the evening of 11 May after the couple had been seen arguing in a local restaurant.

Mrs Singh was found on the kitchen floor of their apartment with multiple stab wounds to her neck and body. Singh has not indicated whether he will appeal the sentence.

The judge added the assessors rejected his defence of intoxication or provocation and he found no compelling mitigating factors raised by Singh’s lawyer Haroon Ali Shah that would deter him from setting the fixed minimum term of 18 years.

Singh worked for the East Anglian Daily Times between 2004 and 2007 but moved to Fiji with his wife, their two children and her teenage son from a previous relationship to be closer to his family while Mrs Singh’s daughter remained in the UK.

He was studying law in Fiji and had previously worked for the Daily Post and Australian aid programme AusAid in Fiji and as an anti-racial harassment officer, in England.

While the couple were living in England, Singh was convicted of common assault and assault occasioning actual bodily harm on his wife and was given a community order.

Justice Goundar said: “The court has heard evidence of your marriage which was full of squabbles about petty matters. But which marriage is not without squabbles?

“There is no evidence that the deceased had ever attacked you or her children resulting in criminal convictions.

“On the day leading to the incident both of you were drinking and arguing. The final argument lasted for a while until the deceased called for help and then there was a complete silence.

“She was left lying on the floor in a pool of blood without any regard from you.

“Your bloody footprints were all over the house. You called your parents with bloody hands. The deceased’s blood was found in the vehicle you drove.

“The killing is further aggravated by the fact that you inflicted the injuries on the deceased in the presence of her children.

“You have deprived four children of their mother. It is unfortunate that your two young children will now grow without their parents.

“But you cannot use your children to seek leniency from the court for circumstances you have caused.”