A MAN who brutally stabbed his ex-wife of 26 years has failed to overturn his life sentence in London's Appeal Court.

Michael Whalley, 48, of Oban Drive, Blackburn, received an automatic life sentence in January 1999 under the "two strikes and you're out" policy after being found guilty of inflicting grievous bodily harm on his ex wife Elaine.

She was subjected to "violent attacks" by Whalley throughout their 25-year marriage, finally leaving home in 1997 when she could take no more, Mr Justice Leveson told the appeal court.

Whalley could not accept the end of their relationship and by August 1998 had begun accosting her on her way to work. On the day of the attack Whalley asked her to return to him, lashing out with a knife when she "tried to ignore him", said the judge.

Whalley gabbed his ex-wife's arm and plunged the blade into her back between the shoulder blades, resulting in a collapsed lung.

He later admitted to police that he had been "obsessed with the idea of getting her back" but said it was "just frustration" which made him snap. His ex-wife has since recovered from her injuries.

The earlier attack, in 1972, occurred after the birth of the couple's son, when Mrs Whalley left the family home but was confronted by her husband at her mother's house.

Whalley stabbed his wife in the neck with a kitchen knife before straddling her and strangling her until she lost consciousness.

Whalley was later convicted of inflicting grievous bodily harm with intent over that offence and Mr Justice Leveson observed: "Both offences were clearly premeditated. He received a life sentence for the second attack.

Whalley's counsel, John Gledhill, asked the appeal court to overturn the life sentence, citing recent psychiatric reports which he claimed showed Whalley was no longer dangerous.

But Mr Justice Leveson, sitting with Lord Justice Clarke and Mr Justice Cook, dismissed the appeal, holding there were no "exceptional circumstances" to justify waiving the sentence, saying a psychiatric report said "concerns about his behaviour towards his wife remain".