A man who stabbed his ex-wife 20 times has been convicted of her murder at the Old Bailey.

Nathaniel Brown, 27, of no fixed address, was on 30th January 2012 found guilty of killing mother-of-two Zandra Maxwell-Nelson. He will be sentenced on Friday 3rd February.

Police were called at about 18:10hrs on 20th April 2011 to reports of a woman stabbed in Durban Road, N17.

Zandra, 24, of Nicoll Road, NW10, was taken by ambulance to the Royal London Hospital where she died at 20:32hrs.

She had been attacked in the street before entering a parked car to try to escape the suspect - but she was stabbed further in the vehicle.

An incident room opened at the Homicide and Serious Crime Command.

"At the time of her death Zandra was 24-years old, a mother with two young sons aged two and one,” Detective Sergeant Ash Hornsby, said. “She was nearing the end of a three-year university degree course in creative advertising and video production and worked part-time in order to support her family.”

Detective Hornsby said that those who knew Zandra say she was “happy-go-lucky, loving and caring, with a bubbly and infectious personality.”

"On 20 April 2011 Zandra’s ex-husband, Nathaniel Brown, changed all that. He took Zandra’s life in an unprovoked brutal knife attack in which he stabbed her 20 times. The attack was carried out in the street in broad daylight in front of their two young children and members of the public. Zandra and the boys had just returned from an afternoon barbecue in a local park,” Detective Hornsby said.

The Met thanked all who helped secure Brown’s conviction, especially the witnesses.

“However, our thoughts remain primarily with Zandra’s family and friends who have been left behind, especially her two young sons, her mother and her two sisters,” Detective Hornsby said. "The conviction of Brown for murder will undoubtedly provide a sense of justice for Zandra’s family but it will never replace Zandra herself. It is hoped they can now start to move forward with their lives and, at the right time, look to the future."