A married man who strangled and stabbed his pregnant lover to death so his wife would not find out about their affair has been jailed by a court in Russia.

Kstovo City Court sentenced guilty Vitaly Lukanov, 34, to nine years and six months in a strict regime corrective colony on 16th November.

The court had convicted him of the murder of 21-year-old Victoria Gushchina and her unborn baby on 5th July.

Friends and family had become worried when nursery school worker Victoria went missing earlier that day.

Shortly after her disappearance, a contact received a text message from her phone number reading: “Anya, I’ve gone to Nizhny Novgorod, the taxi driver is very nice.”

The next day, on 6th July, another text arrived from an unknown number reading: “Don’t worry, I’m fine, I’ll arrive tomorrow evening. My phone is dead, I dropped it in water.”

The following day, her mobile phone was found in the village of Rzhavka with the SIM card removed.

Following a search, Victoria’s body was found in an area of woodland near the village of Zeletsino in Kstovsky district on 8th July.

Vitaly was arrested later that day, after police found out he had been having a long-running extra-marital affair with the young woman.

Investigators established that he and Victoria had argued in an area of woodland near the Kudma River on 5th July.

They believe the text messages were sent by Vitaly after her death.

Court documents said the motive for the killing was the victim’s intention to tell Vitaly’s wife about their affair.

The documents detailed how the defendant strangled Victoria with his bare hands until she was unconscious.

Then he stabbed her in the neck at least three times before dragging her body into some bushes.

During the trial, Vitaly confessed to the crime and apologised to the victim’s family and friends.