The family of murdered Wallington man Peter Jeffrey Akers have described his killer's 30-year prison sentence as "the next best thing after hanging".

Speaking after the sentencing at the Old Bailey, Mr Akers' father Peter said the tragedy had turned his wife into a "different woman", who "doesn't want to do anything or go anywhere".

The couple has a stack of 260 cards from well-wishers at their home in south Wales that they still do not feel ready to read until they have "got Christmas out of the way".

The family had sat through the entire trial of married father-of-two Mark Malone, 30, who was found guilty of murder last month.

He attacked the 50-year-old in the Cowey Sales toilets in Walton on February 19 this year, stealing a knife from a burger van and stabbing him so hard that the knife entered up to the handle.

Mr Akers was found with his trousers round his ankles with his underwear on after staggering out of the toilet with the knife embedded in his back.

Sentencing Malone to life imprisonment with a minimum 30 year term, Judge David Paget paid tribute to the family's strength, and said the impact statement from Mr Akers' boyfriend Michael Drew was the most moving he had ever read.

The statement described how Mr Drew had stopped being able to listen to music because every song reminded him of their 22-year relationship. He is now just able to endure listening to one CD all the way through.

Mr Drew said the first three days of the trial were the worst he had ever spent and "you can't put into words the emotions you go through".

He said: "We did everything together. We had a huge circle of friends and although we are both gay, both our families are fantastic and showed us such support.”

With the prospect of his first Christmas alone approaching, he said: “Christmas was Jeff’s time.

“He would decorate our flat and put up a tree but I can’t do that.

“Not this year, it’s too much”.

He will instead spend the day with his cousin and her daughters, who the couple called their “princesses”.

Mr Akers, who worked as an accountant until 15 years ago when he contracted HIV, spent his later years counselling other gay people who had contracted the disease and volunteering for HIV and Aids charities.

He was born in Barry, South Wales, but moved to London 30 years ago. He was still so highly regarded in south Wales that his remembrance service there attracted 170 people.

His father Peter Akers said they are still coming to terms with their son’s death, adding: "My wife Pat is a different woman all together. When she gets up in the morning all she wants to do is go back to bed. He phoned us every day. His mum was his idol and she was his."