Estranged husband who stabbed mother-of-four to death in front of their daughter, three, on the school run is jailed for at least 27 years

• Ricardo Godinho killed Aliny Godinho while she was taking daughter to school
• Estranged husband, 41, jumped out of a pick-up truck as she was leaving a bus
• Brutally stabbed her in front of daughter, who said, ‘Mummy’s not coming back’  
• He was today sentenced to life imprisonment and Guildford Crown Court  

A husband was today sentenced to life in prison for murdering his estranged wife in front of their three-year-old daughter on the school run after he hunted her down by tracking their child’s phone.

Ricardo Godinho, 41, repeatedly stabbed 39-year-old Aliny Godinho in Stoneleigh, near Epsom in Surrey, on February 8.

The pair were married but had separated in late December 2018 when Godinho’s behaviour became increasingly intimidating. 

Prosecutor Kate Lumsdon QC told the court he attacked her in front of their child to ‘punish her for leaving him, and as he saw it, keeping him from his children’. 

He was today sentenced to at least 27 years in prison after a two-and-a-half week trial at Guildford Crown Court. 

Ricardo Godinho, 41, (left) repeatedly stabbed 39-year-old Aliny Godinho (right) in Stoneleigh, near Epsom in Surrey, on February 8 

On the day of her murder the mother-of-four was pictured on CCTV getting on a bus with her daughter (still shown) 

On February 8, the mother-of-four was getting off a bus with her daughter on London Road, where Godinho was waiting in a pick-up truck. 

The thug, who had tracked her down using a tracking app on the child’s phone, leapt out and stabbed her multiple times before dropping his weapon and fleeing. 

The victim’s family said in a statement: ‘Aliny was a beautiful, intelligent, happy, caring woman who was loved by so many people, both in the UK, and in her home country of Brazil. 

‘The events of Friday 8 February 2019 took away not only a sister, daughter, grandchild and friend, but more importantly, took a loving mother away from her four small children.’

Witnesses recalled Mrs Godinho’s three-year-old daughter saying ‘Mummy’s not coming back’ after watching her being attacked.

One of the mothers on the afternoon school run said she thought she was witnessing a terror attack. 

She described seeing Mrs Godinho becoming ‘lifeless’, adding: ‘There was no rage, no emotion when he was stabbing her. 

‘He was very calm and collected. He didn’t say anything to her, didn’t call her names.’

The couple were from Brazil and had been together for 17 years.

Mrs Godinho (in a black raincoat) hand in hand with her three-year-old daughter before her estranged husband jumped out of a pick-up truck and stabbed her 

The jury were shown footage of the moments leading up to the fatal attack when the trial opened. 

It showed Mrs Godinho – dressed in a dark coat, red gloves and a woolly hat – travelling on a bus with her daughter on the school run.

They met other parents en route and got off at the Sparrow Farm Road bus stop in Ewell, Surrey.

Separate footage shows Godinho pulling up at a petrol station and filling up his car, wearing a beige cap and dark work overalls.

The images show he climbed back into his car, where he rummaged around his glovebox and prepared the kitchen knife he used to kill his former partner.

CCTV from the bus later shows him in his black truck, startling two other drivers – one in a black car and one in a red car – as he attempted to pull on to a main road to pursue Mrs Godinho.

Later, the mothers walked down the pavement and, as the bus drove further into the distance, the jury could faintly distinguish his vehicle mount the kerb behind them – in the seconds before the attack took place.

Godinho pays for petrol before getting into a pick-up truck and driving to attack his estranged wife 

Mrs Godinho’s death in the pouring rain was witnessed by horrified passers-by in the street, the jury heard.

Her estranged husband fled the scene in the truck and drove to the nearby office of his maintenance company before telling his secretary: ‘I stabbed Aliny. I think she is dead. I stabbed her several times.’

He then rushed from his office in a Renault van. 

His secretary called police and officers traced Godinho using the tracking systems used on his company’s vehicles and he was arrested a short time after the attack. 

Prosecutor Katherine Lumsdon QC said he was interviewed by police but made no comment. While in custody, he was overheard by an officer saying: ‘I kill my wife because of f****** problems.’  

In an earlier statement, Mrs Mendes’s family described the devastating aftermath of her death, saying: ‘The impact that Aliny’s death has left on her children is almost impossible to put into words.

‘All four children are under the age of 12 years old and are now left with no mother which is so hard for them to process at such a young age.’

Police tape at the scene of the stabbing in Stoneleigh, an affluent area near Epson in Surrey

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