The ex-councillor convicted of trying to murder his wife has been jailed for twenty years.

Joseph O'Riordan, 74, was sentenced this morning for stabbing his wife Amanda eight times at their home in Polegate last October.

Judge Shani Barnes said the mental and physical impact on Mrs O'Riordan, 47, was horrendous and she did not believe he showed genuine remorse.

Today's hearing also heard the former Polegate town councillor had tried to hide evidence in the case.

He was told he will serve half his sentence in prison and the rest on licence. 

After the hearing, Detective Chief Inspector Mike Ashcroft, of the Surrey and Sussex Major Crime Team, said: "We are pleased to have secured a conviction and salutary sentence in what has been a tragic case.

"It could so easily have been a murder investigation and I would like to pay tribute to the victim, Mrs O'Riordan, for the fortitude she has shown throughout.

"In sentencing her husband for the attack in which he stabbed her several times, Her Honour Judge Barnes said O'Riordan had shown no true remorse for what he had done, and he was a man who had enjoyed the control over Mrs O'Riordan.

"As he felt that control had gone, he took a calculated decision to attempt to kill his wife"