A murderer who knifed her neighbour to death has married a fellow criminal in the country’s first lesbian prison wedding.

Sara Crane, who was jailed for life in 2003 for killing David Thompson on the doorstep of his Purley home, tied the knot with drug dealer Joanne Davis in a secret ceremony at Send prison, Surrey.

The pair, both aged 31, wore regular clothes and held a celebratory party for other inmates following the £250 service on February 25.

Crane is serving a 12-year minimum sentence for stabbing Mr Thompson in the heart with a 10-inch knife following an argument.

She had only moved in to a neighbouring flat a week earlier.

The jobless mother-of-two pleaded guilty to the crime, claiming her new neighbour had been impolite by failing to say hello.

Davies is serving two-and-a-half years for intent to supply drugs.

The pair were given permission to wed by jail governor Ian Murray, and are allowed two hours’ “association” time every evening.

Send prison is a closed category women’s prison, holding criminals who are not trusted to be moved to an open prison for fear they will try to escape.

A Ministry of Justice spokesman said: “We cannot comment on individual offenders held in custody at Send.

"Offenders are entitled to apply to the governor to register a civil partnership in prison under the Civil Partnership Act 2004, so long as certain criteria defined under the act are met.”

The Court of Appeal rejected an application by Crane against her 12-year minimum term in 2005, when it was argued the judge had not taken into account her “appalling personal life” or her guilty plea when setting the term.