A MAN has been jailed for life for murdering his ex-girlfriend in a frenzied knife attack.

Abdelaziz El Yechioui Ourzat has been jailed for life for murdering Cristina Ortiz-Lozano.

He will serve a minimum of 19 years.

Police raced to Spear Road, Southampton after receiving reports of a man attacking a woman with a knife.

When they arrived, they found Cristina’s body lying on the kitchen floor, having received multiple stab wounds.

She was checked by paramedics but sadly pronounced dead at the scene.

Ourzat, then aged 29, was located in the garden and rushed to hospital where he was treated for stab wounds to his chest.

However, he was later arrested and charged with Cristina’s murder on September 21, 2019.

The Spanish national of White Star Place, Southampton pleaded guilty to manslaughter but denied murdering her.

Following a three-week trial at Winchester Crown Court, a jury unanimously convicted him of murder.

Ten months after Cristina’s death, her father, said “Every day at around 9pm, Cristina would call us to tell us about her day-to-day life and now that has become our worst time of the day. It has emotionally destroyed us”.

“We welcomed Abdelaziz El Yechioui Ourzat as another member of our family, including him and making him part of our lives, to the extent that he told me that I was like his second father”.

“El Yechioui Ourzat knew how much we loved both of our daughters. I asked him to look after Cristina because we loved her very much.”

Commenting on the sentence, Detective Inspector Toby Elcock said: “First and foremost, our thoughts remain with Cristina’s family and friends who have shown tremendous courage and dignity throughout the investigation and the trial. The current pandemic has meant that they have had to remotely access the trial from Spain which has been challenging in itself.

“I welcome today’s sentence. El Yechioui Ourzat has been shown to be an extremely dangerous man whose abusive and jealous behaviour led him to take the life of a young woman, who had her whole life ahead of her.

“We worked closely with the Crown Prosecution Service to present a strong case to the jury and bring El Yechioui Ourzat to justice.

“I know today’s sentence will not bring Cristina back, but I hope it goes some way to give her family and friends some closure and a degree of comfort that justice has been done.”

Anyone impacted by domestic abuse is urged to call the Hampshire Domestic Abuse Service on 03300 165112.