A cage fighter has been found guilty of murdering his ex-girlfriend after stabbing her to death after he accused her of being an escort.
Andrew Wadsworth attacked his partner Melissa Belshaw in the front bedroom of her home in Billinge, Wigan.
The 37-year-old stabbed the 32-year-old beautician to death on the afternoon of May 20, two months after he came out of prison.
Her 13-year-old daughter later came into the room and saw her mother’s ‘lifeless’ body.
Wadsworth, 37, (pictured) stabbed Ms Belshaw to death in a ‘prolonged, remorseless attack’ in the front bedroom of her home in Billinge, Wigan
Wadsworth attacked his partner Melissa Belshaw (pictured) on May 20
A jury found him guilty of murder following a two day deliberation at Manchester Crown Court.
Wadsworth was also found guilty of attempting to murder a man in the street.
But a jury found him not guilty of threatening to kill Ms Belshaw’s 13-year-old daughter by putting a knife to her throat in the aftermath of her mother’s death and threatening to kill her.
The cage-fighter had admitted killing Ms Belshaw, but denied murdering her.
During the case, the court heard how Wadsworth met Ms Belshaw through a friend’s girlfriend, who was at one of his cage fights.
The jury were told how Wadsworth was consumed by an obsession about her sex life and had ‘strong suspicions’ about Ms Belshaw’s sexual activities.
The trial heard Wadsworth, of Cranfield Road, Wigan, regularly accused Ms Belshaw from September 2019 of cheating on him, including by working as a prostitute.
She denied getting paid for sex but days before her murder on May 20, she admitted she had a ‘sugar daddy’ who paid her £1,200 per week.
Wadsworth had an obsession with the sex life of Ms Belshaw (pictured) and claimed she told him she was an escort
He told the court he felt ‘humiliated and betrayed’ after she made the revelations and admitted he ‘lost control’ and stabbed Ms Belshaw at her home in Upholland Road.
He relied on a partial defence to murder of a loss of control by what he claimed she had said to him shortly before the stabbing.
He said he was “humiliated and betrayed” by what he said were shock revelations from her about being a prostitute since their relationship began in March 2018 while she had “cried poverty” to him.
Wadsworth said Ms Belshaw went on to tell him she had sex with two of her relatives, a police officer and also engaged in sex parties with people he knew.
Another revelation, he said, was that she helped set up a robbery in which he was injured.
Tim Storrie QC, prosecuting, said Wadsworth had a ‘deep resentment’ towards his former partner and the so-called revelations were merely “recycled accusations” which amounted to a character assassination of Ms Belshaw in an attempt to shift the blame.
The pair split up last Christmas before the attack on May 20 this year which saw Wadsworth, fuelled by cocaine and alcohol, subject Ms Belshaw to a prolonged attack in her bedroom.
A passer-by bravely rescued Ms Belshaw’s 13-year-old daughter by smashing into the house in Billinge, Wigan, with a hammer.
Forensic officers at the home of Ms Belshaw, where she was found dead by police after the attack on May 20
Van driver Kevin Moores, 40, heard the voice of a distressed girl from the bedroom of the home and broke a window at the side of the front door.
He carried Ms Belshaw’s daughter to safety while Wadsworth paced upstairs.
Wadsworth later came out of the property and chased a stranger who he pinned to the ground and knifed repeatedly before police intervened.
When asked about threatening her daughter, Wadsworth previously denied Ms Belshaw’s daughter came into the room during the attack, but said ‘she came in immediately after’.
He previously told the court: ‘She never saw Melissa being stabbed, she did unfortunately see her mum lifeless when she opened that door.’
Asked if he threatened the child, he said: ‘Definitely not. Very low blow, that.’
He also said he got into professional cage fighting at the age of 19 after attending wrestling gyms earlier in his teenage years, but quit following an injury in 2008.
Wadsworth will be sentenced on Thursday at 10.30am. Today Mrs Justice Yip told Wadsworth to expect a life sentence.