Cops in Brazil have arrested a jealous lover who allegedly knifed his beautiful girlfriend to death in a frenzied rage.

Stunning Maria Clara Oliveira Soares was still asleep at the couple’s home in Ferros, Minas Gerais state, south-eastern Brazil on the morning of 31st August when her suspicious boyfriend opened her phone to snoop on her messages.

Bruno Magalhaes Venceslau later claimed to police he had found a message proving that Maria, 21, had been unfaithful to him.

After reading the message, he said he tried to take his own life with a pocketknife, but Maria allegedly woke up and stopped him.

The couple then began arguing furiously, with Maria vehemently denying she had cheated on her boyfriend.

But the argument came to a bloody head when Magalhaes Venceslau, 22, allegedly stabbed his girlfriend five times with the knife.

Maria died from her injuries in the bedroom.

Magalhaes Venceslau then once again tried to take his own life, again unsuccessfully, said police.

He then went to his parents’ house, where he admitted to the slaying and was swiftly arrested.

Crime scene investigators found that Maria had been stabbed twice in the neck and three times in the torso.

The alleged murder weapon was found on the bed next to her body, which was taken to a morgue for a post-mortem examination.

Magalhaes Venceslau, meanwhile, was taken to hospital under police escort for treatment for a superficial cut to the neck.

Police said that as far as they knew, he had never been reported for any previous acts of violence.

The investigation is ongoing.