Ronnie Vella was yesterday jailed for 30 years for the murder of his wife three years ago in a conviction that made history in Malta as the first guilty verdict for wilful homicide when the victim was still missing.

Vella, 31, was found guilty of uxoricide, by eight votes to one, after jurors deliberated for six hours as to whether he pushed his wife off a cliff at Tas-Sanap in December 1999. Jane Vella's body was never found.

Police historian Eddie Attard said yesterday Vella's case marked a number of firsts. It was the first murder case to go to trial without the victim's body ever being found and also the first conviction obtained for wilful homicide without physical evidence of death.

The verdict means jurors accepted Vella's confession to the police that he killed his wife on December 4, 1999 at about 5.30 p.m. because he could not take her nagging or beating his (then) two-year-old son.

Vella had at first reported his wife missing, saying she had not returned home from Mass, then admitted they had been walking on the cliffs and claimed she had jumped off but eventually said he had enticed her to the edge and pushed her off.

Weather conditions in December 1999 had been bad and the intermittent search was called off after 36 hours between December 5 and 9, 1999.

Mr Justice Galea Debono yesterday heard submissions on punishment before settling on 30 years' imprisonment - which means Vella can expect to leave prison when he is 48 years old after the calculation of remission for good behaviour and the deduction of the three years he has already spent in preventive custody.

Vella's lawyer, Malcolm Mifsud, noted that the verdict implied that the jurors had accepted the statement Vella made to the police in which he admitted he had killed his wife. Thus, the judge should take into consideration the fact that his client had cooperated with the police at an early stage of the investigation.

He also called on the judge to take into consideration the fact that the verdict was not a unanimous one and that his client should not have to bear the maximum punishment of life imprisonment.

He highlighted the fact that Vella's remorse had led him to speak to the police and this should persuade the judge to be lenient and hand down a just punishment.

Dr Mifsud pointed out that Vella had been in preventive custody for three years, was a first-time offender and had been only 27 years old at the time of the commission of the crime.

But Assistant Attorney General Anthony Barbara called on the court to jail Vella for life for his "cruel" and "inhuman" behaviour, arguing that Vella had shown a distinct kind of cunning and had left no traces.

Dr Barbara said Vella did not get away with the murder only because the police realised he was lying after he reported his wife missing. Had they not, the woman's death would still be believed a drowning.

The prosecutor argued that although Vella had never been convicted of a crime, the evidence showed that he beat his wife and killed her because she would not be his slave.

Dr Mifsud said, in reply, that the courts of justice were not a place where people were turned into examples to society. Vella did not deserve life imprisonment. He loved his son and did what he did for love of his son, to protect him from his wife's beatings.

In passing judgment, Mr Justice Galea Debono said he had taken into consideration Vella's clean criminal record, his young age at the time of the crime and the fact that he had cooperated with the police.

He noted however that the crime had been premeditated and particularly cruel.

Assistant Attorney General Dr Anthony Barbara prosecuted. Dr Malcolm Mifsud appeared for Vella while Dr Chris Said and Dr Georgina Scicluna Bajada represented the victim's family.