A taxi driver has been found guilty of the murder of his former partner and mother-of-five Sarah Wellgreen. 

Ben Lacomba, 38, was convicted at Woolwich Crown Court on Monday. 

Wellgreen, who went missing in October last year, was last seen in the Bazes Shaw area of New Ash Green.

The 46-year-old’s body has not yet been found and police said the only thing missing from her home was her black iPhone, and there had been no new transactions on her bank or credit cards.

Lacomba and the victim split up in 2014 but still lived together at their home in New Ash Green, Kent, at the time of the beautician’s disappearance.

During the three-week trial at Woolwich Crown Court, the court heard the couple had met online in 2004 but by the time of her disappearance their relationship was marked by “tensions and problems”, prosecutor Alison Morgan QC said.

Lacomba was allegedly motivated to kill Wellgreen over fears of losing his family home and access to his children.

He said he was asleep in bed on the night of the alleged killing. He is accused of switching off a CCTV system in the middle of the night and parking his car in an unusual spot in order to evade detection.