A mother who killed her abusive partner in a plot hatched with her children has been jailed for life after pleading guilty to murder.
Sharon Hollinsworth bludgeoned Andrew Oates to death with a hammer at their home in Peterhead in October 2010.
The High Court in Edinburgh was told she hit him at least 20 times on the head with the blunt instrument.
Prosecutors accepted that the 44-year-old had been assaulted by Mr Oates in the past, while Judge Lord Doherty said she had suffered physical and mental abuse at the hands of her partner.
He also said her children, Christopher and Natalie, had lived in fear of Mr Oates.
Christopher Hollinsworth, 19, and Natalie, 22, pled guilty to conspiracy to murder after the Crown accepted not guilty pleas to the charge of murder.
After the murder all three went to Grampian Police headquarters in Aberdeen and told staff they had killed Mr Oates.
Police found the 44-year-old's body beneath a duvet at his home in Fairwinds Place, Peterhead, with cable ties to his wrists after being called to the house.
Splatters of blood were visible on the upstairs landing wall and the floor.
Sharon Hollinsworth gave police a description of her life with a "violent bullying and controlling partner" who regularly attacked her.
Text messages exchanged between the trio in the run-up to the attack describing the plan to kill Mr Oates were read out in court.
Messages from Sharon Hollinsworth read: "It's a place we were dragged 2", "All I want 2 do is protect u both" and "I hate him wi a passion n want him gone sooner rather than l8r."
Lord Doherty sentenced her to life imprisonment with a minimum term of 11 years. Christopher was jailed for four years and two months while Natalie was sent to prison for serve five years.
The judge told Sharon Hollinsworth he accepted Mr Oates was "a difficult man to live with."
He said: "I accept he was a controlling personality and you suffered abuse from him during your relationship."
But he said Mr Oates's behaviour could not justify or excuse the trio's actions.
Speaking after the sentencing, Mr Oates's family described the killing as a "cold, calculated and brutal act".
In a statement read by Victim Support spokesman David Sinclair, they said: "This was a premeditated murder which significantly impacted on all of our family's lives: it was a cold, calculated and brutal act.
"What sort of woman involves her children to conspire to murder? We suggest a very evil one."
