A MAN who stabbed and set fire to his wife in a "wicked" attack, had his prison sentence cut from ten years to eight at London's Criminal Court of Appeal.

Joseph Mogre, 62, of The Gardens, Southwick, was jailed at Lewes Crown Court on July 21 this year after a jury found him guilty of attempted murder.

But yesterday, Judge James Rant QC told the Appeal Court: "Having looked at the situation and particularly having regard to the state of health which Mogre is now in and his age, we have come to the conclusion that the sentence of ten years was pitched rather too high.

"It is for these last reasons we are able to reduce this sentence to any degree at all. In the circumstances we quash the ten years, imposing a sentence of eight years."

The judge, sitting with Lord Justice Tuckey and Mr Justice Sachs, said Mogre and his wife had married in 1961 and had seven children.

"In 1991 Mogre suffered a stroke, but on recovering he began to accuse his wife of having sexual affairs with other people."

She asked for a divorce in September 1998 and soon afterwards he struck her while she slept, stabbed her several times and then poured white spirit over her and set it alight.

The sentencing judge described it as "a wicked offence" and "a very determined attack."

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