Neighbours in the south Co Donegal community say Gary McCrea was enraged when his wife, Dolores, left him eight months before her death in January 2004.
According to friends, Dolores (39) prepared for her escape with such secrecy and precision that "it was like planning a highly confidential military operation".
She quietly moved out of the family home in April 2003 and into new accommodation in the village of Ballintra.
Three of their daughters moved in with Dolores. The second eldest opted to live with her father although she later joined her sisters and gave damning evidence for the prosecution in his trial.
She told how McCrea used to say he would kill her mother, that he would stab her and rip her guts out.
Gardaí were called a number of times to the home after reports of violence. Neighbours remember Dolores's attempts to disguise her bruises.
Villagers believe McCrea (40) began planning his wife's murder within days of her leaving him. "He made it clear to her that if he couldn't have her,, nobody else would," said a close friend of Dolores.
It was a story repeated by many in Ballintra and nearby Laghy.
During a search of the family home when Dolores's disappearance was still officially a missing-person case, gardaí found a tape of one programme in the Midsomer Murders television series. It included a scene where the killer attempts to dispose of the body by burning.
There was also a recording of a BBC documentary, Trail of Guilt, about the successful police hunt for murderer and serial rapist Michael Hardacre who terrorised women in Rochdale, England.
Dolores was popular with regulars in Donal "Duck" Gallagher's Bay Bush bar in Ballintra, where she worked part-time and was an enthusiastic member of the pub darts team.
Dolores McGroary and Gary McCrea grew up within a few miles of each other.
When they married, she converted from her own Catholic faith to his Protestant religion and became an enthusiastic fundraiser for the local school and church.
Neighbours wondered at the time why she felt the need to change her religion. Many now believe McCrea put pressure on her to convert.
McCrea gained notoriety as a stalker of his own wife, so determined was he to control her every movement. Even when they finally separated, he wouldn't leave Dolores alone.
He frequently and openly spoke of her in derogatory terms. Sometimes he simply referred to her as "it". He falsely accused her of conducting affairs and of being a bad mother.
When McCrea, a mechanic, devised his murder plan he knew Dolores was anxious to sell her car, a red seven-year-old Peugeot 306.
He had a convenient pretext to tempt her to his house. He told her he would pay her €1,000 for the car, slightly more than she might have expected from a dealer.
Shortly before Dolores was due at his house to discuss the arrangement he bought 20 quad tyres and 45 litres of diesel.
Dolores left home to play darts in Donegal town. As arranged with her separated husband, she called on him on the way to discuss the sale of her car.
A visiting neighbour departed as she arrived, the last person other than her former husband to see her alive.
The smoke and flames were visible for miles around, but nobody suspected anything unusual until the next day. The eldest daughter, Sharon, told her aunt and grandmother that she was worried. Her mother hadn't returned from the darts tournament.
As word spread through the village, eyes turned towards the smoke still billowing from McCrea's garden.
Gardaí found burning human bones in the embers. McCrea was arrested and charged within two weeks and later moved to Cork city when given bail on condition that he live more than three hours' drive from Donegal. He found a job driving articulated trucks with Sexton Transport of Mallow.
He worked from 3am until 2pm seven days a week collecting milk from farmers and delivering it to Dairygold plants in north Cork.
Niall Sexton, owner of the company, said: "I hadn't a clue who he was. He joined us around June last year. He was an excellent worker, one of the best we ever had."
Mr Sexton said McCrea was quite bitter about whom he said was his ex-wife. In fact McCrea was still lying about Dolores. She was dead. Sharon, the eldest child, had custody of her sisters, aged 15, eight and six.