Three men who conspired to murder a special constable in Wembley have each been sentenced to life in jail.

Businessman Fadi Nasri, 34, hitman Jason Jones, 36, and drug dealer Rodger Leslie, 38, were all given life sentences today (Wednesday) by The Recorder of London, Judge Peter Beaumont QC, for the murder of Nasri's wife Nisha Patel-Nasri outside her Sudbury Avenue home.

The judge ruled Nasri and Jones must serve a minimum of 20 years and Leslie a minimum of 18.

Leslie and Jones were not present to hear the sentence, having unexpectedly returned to their cells earlier in the morning, but Nasri, in a dark pinstripe suit and flanked by security guards, displayed no emotion as the sentence was passed.

Nasri, who lived with his wife of three years, wanted her dead so he could pay off his debts with her £350,000 life insurance policy and start a new life with his prostitute lover Laura Mockiene.

Limousine company boss Nasri recruited Jones through underworld contact Leslie. Tony Emmanuel, 42, was the hired driver but was found not guilty of murder and manslaughter.

Nasri, Jones and Leslie were found guilty of murder on May 28 at the Old Bailey after the jury had deliberated for 26 hours.

Emmanuel insisted although he had driven Jones and Leslie to the scene, he knew nothing of the sinister plot.

The trial heard Nasri - who owed £54,000 to banks and building societies - arranged the murder for May 11 2006 and gave Jones the house keys.

He had organised a game of snooker to give himself an alibi, leaving his wife, 29, to count the takings of her hairdressing business and get ready for bed. He even told her to lock the doors as he left, knowing the hitman was on his way.

Mrs Patel-Nasri was in her pyjamas when Jones slipped into the house in Sudbury Avenue, Wembley, shortly before midnight.

Police believe he took a knife from the kitchen and found the petite 29-year-old at the bottom of the stairs where she had come to investigate a noise.

But Mrs Patel-Nasri may have grabbed the knife to defend herself before she was stabbed in the left groin as she struggled with the hitman.

She managed to get out on to her driveway but bled to death before emergency services could reach her.

Jones calmly walked away from the house and was driven away by Emmanuel. He then dumped the murder weapon in a drain but, crucially, was caught by a security camera, and phone records linked all four defendants on the night of the murder.

Sentencing Nasri Judge Beaumont said: "I find there was in the circumstances of the attack a significant degree of planning and premeditation.

"I find that Mrs Patel-Nasri was that night vulnerable, but not through age or disability, vulnerable because the plan left her defenceless in her home as Mr Nasri exercised the alibi that he constructed for himself.

"The aggravating factor was that there was gross abuse of the trust he owed her as a husband."

Ms Mockiene was in the packed public gallery and broke down in tears as the sentence was passed.

Nasri had been having an affair with Ms Mockiene since January 2006 and she may have been pregnant at the time of the killing.

She was with him when he was arrested nine months after his wife's death.

After sentencing, it emerged Nasri's father killed himself in prison in 2001 while on remand accused of killing his own wife and son in a house fire in Derby and that Nasri was planning to sue Leicester Prison over the incident.