A killer convicted of a murder for a second time was today handed a mandatory life sentence.

Ian Anthony Anderson will have to serve 15 years – minus the 3,462 days he has already served in custody – before he can be considered for parole.

Anderson, aged 55, was found guilty by an 11-strong jury at the Court of General Gaol Delivery on Wednesday of the murder of his wife’s lover.

He had first been found guilty of the murder of Neil Edward Roberts in 2014 and served nine and a half years in jail before his conviction was quashed by the Privy Council and a retrial ordered.

Anderson showed no emotion as he was once again sentenced to a life term in prison.

Deemster Graeme Cook described Anderson as a ‘jealous man’ who had ‘lost it’ and ‘beaten the living daylights’ out of the older man when his suspicions of an affair were confirmed.

He said the dreadful circumstances of the death would live with Mr Roberts’ family forever.

Anderson had denied murder but admitted manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility or provocation.

Mr Roberts, aged 60, of Ballabeg, was found with catastrophic injuries on the living room floor of the Anderson’s rented home in Queen Street, Castletown, in the early hours of December 1, 2013.

The court heard he had been jumped and stamped on over a period of about 15 minutes in what prosecutor Peter Wright KC described as a ‘sustained and prolonged attack’.

He said the victim had been rendered almost incapable by drink and the defendant would have known he was vulnerable, irrespective of who threw the first blow.

In a victim impact statement read out in court, Mr Roberts’ sister Claire Cunningham said the impact of the retrial was ‘immeasurable’ and spoke of the family’s pain at having to relive the events.

‘We hope he can finally rest in peace,’ she said.

The victim’s daughter, Lorraine, described having to identify her father’s body through a window at the mortuary.

She said: ‘I could not hold his hand, touch him, kiss him goodbye and tell him how much I miss him with all my heart.’

The court heard that Mr Anderson and his wife Alison had first met Mr Roberts in 2012 and they had become friends.

He described the victim as ‘quite flirtatious’ and over time the defendant had become suspicious that his wife was having an affair.

At the end of November 2013, Mr Roberts was evicted from his home and it was arranged for Anderson to pick him up.

The two went for a drink at the Bay Hotel in Port Erin where Mr Roberts ended up in a bad state of intoxication and was taken back to Queen Street. Deemster Cook said he did not believe this was orchestrated.

It was there that Alison told the defendant she was in love with the older man.

According to his evidence, Anderson asked him to leave but Mr Roberts punched him in the face and kept coming back at him.

‘Then you beat the living daylights out of him, said Deemster Cook. ‘The injuries were so catastrophic that Mr Roberts would have died very quickly.

‘You must have realised you were causing him really serious harm if not killing him.’

Anderson only rang 999 some 45 minutes after the attack and during the call seemed to be more concerned about the injuries he had received.

The previous conviction was quashed as psychiatric evidence was not properly put before the original jury.

Deemster Cook said there is no automatic parole for life sentences and even if released, Anderson will remain on licence for life.

He will also be subject to an exclusion order banning him from the island for five years after his release.