A killer who butchered his wife after she took up with his best friend could be released in four years.

Anthony Simpson stabbed Margaret Simpson almost 40 times the day after receiving divorce papers from his wife of 24 years, who had recently told him she had not loved him for the past 13 years.

Simpson killed his wife on August 1, 2000, at their home in Wellington Road, Bognor. She died within minutes of the savage attack, after which Simpson telephoned police and meekly awaited their arrival in the flat.

Mr Justice Field, who yesterday ruled on the correct "tariff" or minimum term to be served by Simpson, said his wife had left him a few weeks before the killing "having begun an affair with a man who had been his best friend".

Simpson had striven desperately to get her back, repeatedly telling friends that "if he couldn't have her nobody else would", said the judge, who was sitting at London's High Court.

He was jailed for life at Lewes Crown Court in August 2001 after he was convicted of murder. At trial he claimed to be suffering from diminished responsibility due to acute depression - a defence rejected by the jury.

They found insufficient evidence to reduce the offence from murder to manslaughter.

After reviewing Simpson's case yesterday, Mr Justice Field said he must serve a minimum tariff of ten years before he can seek his freedom. Allowing for time spent on remand, the ruling means Simpson can apply for parole in August 2010.

The judge agreed Simpson was mentally distraught at the time.