The “extremely jealous” husband who abused his beauty-pageant-winning wife has been sentenced to over 13 years in prison for strangling her to death and dumping her body in a thicket.

The couple had two children aged seven and eight, who have been put into foster care.

Patrick S., 27, was sentenced to 13 years and six months in prison for killing his wife Jennifer S., 27, by the Darmstadt Regional Court in the German state of Hesse yesterday, 16th November, reported news outlet RTL.

He had been taken into preventive custody shortly after the dead body of his wife was found in a thicket in the community of Biebesheim am Rhein in February.

According to the prosecution, there had been significant marital problems because of the defendant’s “extreme jealousy and lack of self-control”.

After initially denying the accusations, the defendant admitted that he had strangled his wife to death with his bare hands because she wanted a divorce.

After dumping his wife’s dead body in a thicket, he sent a message from her mobile phone to her sister talking about a “walk on the Rhine”, according to news outlet Bild.

He then reportedly faked a search for her in the area, assuming it would rule him out as a suspect.

The court also heard testimony from witnesses who claimed that the defendant had attempted to rape his wife on several occasions.

It was also reported that Patrick S. often tried to frighten Jennifer, who was crowned ‘City Princess’ of the town of Lampertheim in 2017, so he could then play the role of saviour.

The defendant confessed to disguising himself as a burglar and stabbing his wife twice with a kitchen knife in front of their then five-year-old son in January last year (2020), according to RTL.

The defendant had allegedly hoped that terrifying and injuring his wife would make her more dependent on him, still according to RTL.

The case was dropped after Jennifer refused to testify in court. However, she told paramedics and police officers shortly after the alleged crime that she recognised her attacker as her husband.

The prosecutor reported during the trial that the defendant was controlling of his wife and assumed that she was cheating on him. The victim’s family’s lawyer added the victim’s popularity bothered the defendant.

On the alleged motive, the indictment at the time read: “Because he couldn’t have her, no one else should have her either.”