girlfriend after a drinking session on Valentine's Day.

Philip Morris showed no emotion as he was sentenced under the government's

two strikes and you're out legislation for battering 34 year-old dancer

Diane Ivill around the head with a piece of wood.

Judge John Roberts said the earliest date Morris could be considered for

parole would be after he served a minimum of five years and 69 days which

takes into account 209 days he has been in custody.

This means he cannot even be considered for parole until he has served that

time and the likelihood is that he will serve eight and possibly even 10

years before he's allowed out of jail.

Judge Roberts said he found there were no exceptional reasons why Morris

should not be jailed for life and said he was a considerable risk to other

women.

Morris killed his wife in 1983 and then buried her body in the garden. He

was convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to four years jail by a judge at

Liverpool Crown Court.

Morris's vicious attack left Ivill unconscious and covered in blood and she

was sent for treatment at a specialist neurological ward at Hope Hospital

where she was on a ventillator for seven days.

She had suffered a fractured skull, fractured facial bones and a broken

right forearm during the beating which happened at Morris's Derwent Road

flat in Farnworth on February 14 - Valentine's Day.

Ivill was a talented dancer and teacher and had travelled all over the world

teaching dance but now she will never dance again.

The attack left her seriously brain damaged, able only to speak and

understand a few words, doubly incontinent and needing round the clock care

for the foreseeable future.

After the verdict Diane's father Donald said the life sentence had been

justified and revealed he did not know until recently that Morris had been

jailed for four years for the manslaughter of his wife in 1983.