A possessive chef who murdered his teenage girlfriend by stabbing her in the heart with a kitchen knife must spend at least 15 years behind bars.

Til Rana, 34, killed 18-year-old Beena Bhatt because “if he could not have her, then no one else would”, the Recorder of Bradford, Judge James Stewart QC, said.

Sentencing Rana to life imprisonment, Judge Stewart told him: “You have snuffed out the life of a young girl and ruined the lives of members of her family.”

During the trial, the jury was told that Rana and Miss Bhatt were found lying together in a pool of blood at Rana’s flat in Landmark House, Broadway, Bradford city centre, on April 8.

Miss Bhatt’s distraught mother, Geeta, fled the flat bleeding from her hand after seizing a knife from Rana.

Miss Bhatt died shortly afterwards from a six-inch deep wound to her chest.

Rana was operated on for self-inflicted wounds to the abdomen.

Yesterday, the jury found him guilty of murder, rejecting his defence that he lost control and it was manslaughter.

The couple met when Rana, a Nepalese national, was working as a chef at the Tulsi restaurant in Bradford’s Centenary Square. He began a sexual relationship with Miss Bhatt, a 17-year-old waitress, and in November last year she terminated a pregancy.

Rana said he became very angry and killed her when she told him she was about to go to hospital for a second abortion. The court heard Miss Bhatt was not pregnant when she died.

Judge Stewart said Rana should have known better than to have a relationship with a girl half his age when he had a wife and two children in Nepal.

The pregnancy brought shame on Miss Bhatt’s family and she was torn between her affection for Rana and loyalty to her parents.

Judge Stewart paid tribute to the dignity of Miss Bhatt’s father and praised her mother, who had a panic attack when giving evidence but found the strength to come back to court to continue.

In a statement to the court, Mrs Bhatt said she had recurring nightmares since her daughter died and was on anti-depressant medicine.

A relative of Miss Bhatt told the court: “Not only has he killed my cousin, he has stabbed my whole family. We will feel the pain for the rest of our lives.”

Rana sat in the dock with his head in his hands after the verdict.

After the case, Senior Investigating Officer, Detective Superintendent Dick Nuttall, said: “Til Rana has rightly been convicted of Beena’s murder despite attempts to minimise his responsibility for his actions by claiming that this was a momentary loss of control.

“Our thoughts today are with Beena’s parents and family who are still trying to come to terms with their loss. Whilst the end of the trial may bring them some small comfort, the pain of losing a loving daughter will be with them forever”