Former royal aide Jane Andrews was last night starting a life sentence in Holloway jail for the murder of her wealthy lover, Tommy Cressman.
She showed no emotion as the Old Bailey jury of 10 women and two men found her guilty of murder by an 11-1 majority. They rejected her claims that she was acting in self-defence when she struck Cressman on the head with his cricket bat and then stabbed him.
The jurors accepted the prosecution case that Andrews (34), who worked as a dresser and assistant to the Duchess of York for nine years until 1997 when she was made redundant, murdered the businessman after he said he would not marry her.
Andrews had told the four-week trial that Cressman had raped her earlier in the day and was accidentally stabbed as she defended herself during a fight with him.
But friends of Cressman dismissed her claims, accusing Andrews in court of "trying to kill him again". Andrews left the dock after glancing up at her parents, David and June, in the public gallery.
Earlier the judge told her: "In killing the man you loved, you ended his life and ruined your own.
"It is evident that you made your attack on him when you were consumed with anger and bitterness. Nothing could justify what you did.
"It was a brutal attack and even if you felt yourself wronged and you were, as your counsel has said, emotionally vulnerable, you were attacking an unarmed man who had possibly been asleep only a few minutes before you attacked him."
Outside court, Andrews's solicitor, Ms Catherine Mather, said: "My client is devastated by the verdict. We will be considering a possible appeal with her in the next few days."