Australian found guilty of beating British ex-wife to death Sally Brooks, 48, found with multiple skull fractures at her Melbourne home Her ex-husband, geologist Robert Meade, was found guilty of murder today He left her with custody of their three children when they divorced in 2009 She e-mailed him asking if she could move back to England, but he refused Meade later gave her permission after he had married a Russian woman But prosecution said he was secretly plotting to kill her to stop her leaving Ms Brooks's twin: 'Nothing will ease devastation and heartache he caused' By Richard Shears and Simon Tomlinson Murdered: British woman Sally Brooks (pictured with one of her children) was beaten to death by her Australian ex-husband days before she was planning to fly back to England with their three children An Australian man was found guilty today of bludgeoning his British ex-wife to death in her Melbourne home just days before she was planning to fly back to England with their children. Sally Brooks, 48, originally from Nottingham, was found unconscious with multiple skull fractures after preparing to start a new life in her native country. Her former husband, 51-year-old geologist Robert Meade, was later accused of travelling from his new home in Adelaide to Melbourne. He hid in her laundry room while she was doing the school run then attacked her with a blunt object, the court heard. A jury today found him guilty of murder after considering their verdict for four days. Prosecutor Ray Elston said Meade's feelings towards his ex-wife had become 'positively toxic' since their acrimonious divorce in 2009, it was reported by The Age. Mr Elston said Meade had plotted the murder because 'he harboured an acute hatred for her and her taking the children away forever to another country'. 'He couldn't tolerate it,' he added. 'He didn't want those children taken away and indoctrinated. He would be dead to them. Ms Brooks' identical twin sister, Alison Brooks, said outside the court today that her family would never get over the loss of Sally, who died in hospital 10 days after she was attacked on July 1, 2011. While we take some comfort knowing he (Meade) will now be behind bars, nothing will ease the devastation and heartache he has caused. Alison, a solicitor who now has custody of her sister's three children, added: 'Our future will for ever be tinged with great sadness because Sally is missing from our lives.' The court was told by Mr Elston that Meade had seen July 1 as his last chance to stop Ms Brooks' plan to return to the UK. Plotted murder: Geologist Robert Meade is led out of the court after being convicted of killing Ms Brooks 'Future tinged with great sadness': Sally Brooks (right) with her twin sister Alison and their mother Mr Elston said Meade had driven an unorthodox route from his Adelaide home to the house in the Melbourne suburb of Donvale, where his former wife was living. He had made what Mr Elston said was a 'dry run' in early June. Meade told police that he had been in the town of Yea, north of Melbourne, at the time his ex-wife was killed and his defence counsel, Peter Morrissey said there was nothing to link his client to the scene of the crime. He asked why he would leave Ms Brooks injured, but still alive. The court had heard that Meade had left Ms Brooks and their children, now aged 13, 11 and nine, in January 2009, after their relationship had broken down and he had met a Russian woman on an internet dating site. Scene: Meade travelled from his new home in Adelaide to Ms Brooks's house in Melbourne (above) to kill her He travelled to Russia the following month to visit the woman, Irina Arsenova, who later became his second wife. After leaving Nottingham where she and her twin sister grew up, Sally Brooks went to Bath University where she read business studies. But she then decided to travel the world in the mid-1980s, backpacking through a number of countries including Australia, where she met Meade, a geologist. When Ms Brooks returned to the UK she kept in touch with Meade and then moved permanently to Australia in the mid-1990s, setting up home with him in Sydney. The couple married in Nottingham in January, 1999, and moved back to Melbourne in 2000. Devastated: Ms Brooks's identical twin sister, Alison Brooks, (pictured outside the court) said her family would never get over the loss of Sally, who died in hospital 10 days after she was attacked on July 1, 2011 Following their divorce in 2009, Ms Brooks sent Meade an email asking his permission to take the children back to Britain with her - but he was against it. Later, however, he sent an email to Ms Brooks in March, 2011, a month after he married Irina, giving permission for his ex-wife to take the children back to England. But police said that when when he travelled from Adelaide to Melbourne in June he was on a rehearsal run, setting up a possible alibi as he plotted his ex-wife's murder. On the day he killed her, the prosecutor said, he had jumped over her backyard fence, smashed a window and made his way to the laundry where he waited for her to come home to mortally injure her. Following today's guilty verdict, Justice Mark Weinberg said he would sentence Meade at a date to be arranged.