A 'JEALOUS' policeman who stabbed and nearly killed his wife after she had an affair with an old school flame traced on the Internet has been jailed for four years.

The father-of-four, formerly of Blackburn, had repeatedly begged her to give their marriage another chance, and even suggested a suicide pact rather than split up.

But when she insisted "it was well and truly over", Hugh Needham lost his temper and snatched up a razor-sharp boning knife.

Then, as their young children played computer games upstairs with cousins, the 42-year-old detective plunged the knife into her stomach, Inner London Crown Court heard.

After pulling it out, he waved the blood-stained blade in front of her face and motioned as if to cut her throat.

Laura, 37, managed to stagger to her parents' home next door.

Needham, of Bridge Down, Bridge, near Canterbury, Kent, showed no reaction as the five-man, six-woman jury took just under 12 hours over three days to reject claims he had slipped and convict him of one count of wounding with intent.

He was also found guilty of intimidating his wife in a bid to get her to drop the case against him.

But the jury were unable to reach a verdict on an charge of attempted murder, and a formal not guilty verdict was recorded after the prosecution said it would not seek a retrial.