A convicted murderer who stabbed his wife to death and then dismembered her body following a row over a TV programme has been jailed for life.

Glynn Dix, who was suffering from a severe mental illness, had already served a life sentence after shooting a woman in 1979.

Sentencing him at Birmingham Crown Court yesterday, Mr Justice Butterfield remanded Dix (51) to a secure hospital and told him he would die in prison.

"You have pleaded guilty to the murder of your wife in an argument. You stabbed her to death and then dismembered her body. It was a brutal, violent and abhorrent crime," said the judge.

"You took the life of a woman who had done so much to help you and had shown such kindness to you and by doing so you have devastated the lives of the many people who knew and loved her."

He said he considered Dix to be an "extremely dangerous man" and that the sentence would mean he would spend the rest of his life behind bars.

Jonathon Gosling, prosecuting, said the defendant met 54-year-old Hazel Dix while serving his life sentence and after being discharged in August 2001 set up home with her in Seymour Drive, Abbeydale, Redditch, Worcestershire.

But on June 19 last year they had a "heated argument" over which television programme to watch.

According to the defendant, he said, they both got hold of knives and he then stabbed her three times.

Mr Gosling said Dix then used a hacksaw and knife in the "gruesome process" of dismembering his wife, later telling police he did it because she "liked the house to be kept clean."

He said the "horrible scene" was witnessed by Dixx's stepson, Adam Langford, aged 28, who returned to the house at about 4pm.

Dix told Mr Langford "we are together for ever" and following a brief struggle between the two men Mr Langford ran off to raise the alarm.

"When the police arrived moments later the defendant was still kneeling astride his wife with a knife in his hand," said Mr Gosling.

He said Dix, who was given a life sentence at Bristol Crown Court in July 1980, had previously murdered a woman in Hartbury, Gloucestershire, after she had asked him to kill her violent husband in return for #2,000.

Mr Gosling said Dix had taken her to a remote wood to fire a shot-gun at a tree but turned the weapon on her and then concealed her body which remained undiscovered for a fortnight.

He said the defendant spent a significant part of his sentence in a secure psychiatric hospital before a gradual process of release took place.

Dix met his wife after sharing a cell with her son and they married shortly before his release after which he still remained in the care of the local psychiatric services.

Dix, who admitted murder, was remanded into Ashworth Hospital on Merseyside.

Psychiatric reports show he suffered from extreme schizophrenia and displays psychotic tendencies when he fails to take medication. His risk of re-offending, the court was told, is extremely high.

Andrew Fisher, defending, said Dix could not explain why he "flipped" on that day.

Outside court, Mrs Dix's brother Wayne Denver, 67, said the family was pleased with the sentence and they hoped Dix would never be released.

Mr Denver said: "We have each lost a sister, a mother, a grandmother and a very dear friend and no words can describe the devastation this family feels about a man who gave the persona of a loving caring person.

"He must never be set free for any reason. This will stay with us for the rest of our lives."