PARIS (AFP) - British businessman Ian Griffin was jailed for 20 years by a Paris court on Friday for murdering his Polish-born girlfriend in an upmarket hotel in 2009.

The jury found 45-year-old Griffin guilty despite his claim that he had no recall of the incident because he had blacked out after fighting with her in their bedroom at Le Bristol hotel near the Champs Elysees.

His girlfriend, Kinga Wolf, 36, died of massive internal bleeding and her skull, jaw and larynx were smashed.

More than 100 marks were found on her body.

Griffin claimed the couple had argued at a restaurant after she refused him the anti-depression pills to which he had become addicted.

He told the court she then pressured him for sex but he refused, which he said made her extremely upset.

He left the restaurant before her, but she made it back to the five-star hotel room they were sharing.

"When I walked into the room and heard her voice, I went in to a total blank, nothing," he told the court.