A MAN has been found guilty of murdering Seventies pop star Lennie Peters' daughter at a caravan park in Essex.The body of Lisa Sullivan was discovered by her elder son at the Martello Caravan Park in Walton-on-the-Naze last August.

A MAN has been found guilty of murdering Seventies pop star Lennie Peters' daughter at a caravan park in Essex.

The body of Lisa Sullivan was discovered by her elder son at the Martello Caravan Park in Walton-on-the-Naze last August.

During a two-and-a-half-week trial, a jury at Basildon Crown Court heard that her partner Terry Game, 33, told police she had accused him of being useless in bed. He said he strangled her in self-defence after she attacked him.

But a jury of seven women and five men found him guilty of murder yesterday , after taking more than nine hours to reach the majority decision.

Judge Philip Clegg sentenced Game to life in prison and said he would serve at least 15 years, minus the 237 days he has spent on remand in custody, before being considered for parole.

He said: “Terry Game has been convicted by a jury of the murder of Lisa Sullivan. I am quite certain that on the evening in question, Lisa Sullivan was the victim of domestic violence.

“I found Terry Game was a bully to the woman who he lived with and in an outburst of violence, a loss of temper, in the early hours of August 3 he took her by the throat and quite literally strangled her.

“It must have been all too obvious that she was fighting for her life but nevertheless, driven by rage, he continued to do so.”

During the trial the court heard that Mrs Sullivan, 40, - the daughter of one half of the pop/folk duo Peters and Lee - her sons aged two, four and 11, and her boyfriend had gone on holiday to the Martello Caravan Park.

Dorian Lovell-Pank QC, prosecuting, said that trouble flared after the family arrived on July 30 last year.

“Things seemed to start off all right but soon tension began to build up between this defendant and Mrs Sullivan, possibly caused by the children's behaviour,” he said.

“Over the next day or so there was arguing between this defendant and Mrs Sullivan. Other people at the caravan park heard and saw them arguing with each other and on one occasion this defendant was seen to hit her.

“On the night of August 2 and August 3 shouts and screams and bangs and thuds were heard coming from the caravan and it was later that morning that Lisa Sullivan was found dead on the bed that she had been sharing with this defendant,” he said.

He said Game, who had shared a home with Mrs Sullivan at Stanstead Abbots in Hertfordshire, was seen driving off at speed in her car on the morning her body was found.

Giving evidence during the trial, Game said that on the night of Mrs Sullivan's death the pair had been kissing and cuddling in bed when she told him to get off her implying he was useless in bed.

The jury heard that Game had a “history of abuse and violence towards women he became involved with”.

Following the hearing, Detective Superintendent Simon Dinsdale, of Essex Police, said yesterday : “Our thoughts today are with Lisa's family and in particular her children who through Game's actions have got a life sentence without their mother.

“We would like to thank all the witnesses in this case and in particular the two former partners of Game who bravely gave evidence about the violence they had suffered at his hands. Game is a bully and will always be a danger to women.

“Domestic violence never ends unless victims manage to get out of the relationship and it is a sad fact that it leads to many of the murders we have investigated. We can and should prevent most of these murders.”

Mrs Sullivan's father shot to fame with his singing partner Dianne Lee. The pair formed the chart-topping duo Peters and Lee and had a number one hit with Welcome Home in 1973. He died in 1992 after a battle with cancer.

Mrs Sullivan's father-in-law Bill Sullivan said: “I would like to stress that what Terry Game has done to this family, no sentence is long enough. We hope that this animal suffers like our grandchildren are going to for the rest of their lives.”

Mrs Sullivan's estranged husband Paul added: “This man has got what he deserves. He is a danger to be around women. My children have lost their mother to this person and he needs to pay the price for this.

“I would like to think that Lisa can now rest in peace knowing that justice has been done.”