A respected nurse who axed her unfaithful husband to death while mentally unhinged has failed in her legal bid to salvage her career.

Wadanalahugedera Chandrasekera was struck off in December 2007 after the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) concluded her criminal record rendered her unfit to practise as a nurse - despite her acknowledged professional competence.

The 61-year-old had worked as a nurse for over 30 years before admitting her husband Sarath's manslaughter in August 2006 on the grounds of diminished responsibility.

Chandrasekera, of Port Close, Bearsted, near Maidstone, killed her 57-year-old husband in October 2005 having confronted him about a long-term affair he was conducting with her own niece.

Deputy Judge Christopher Symons - who rejected her challenge to the NMC's decision at London's High Court - said the killing came after her husband came round to the family home and as he was about to leave.

The judge said she was in a condition of "extreme distress and desperation" when it happened, having suffered years of provocation, during which she was subject to "humiliation and psychological and physical abuse".

Chandrasekera, who had served nine months on remand before her trial, was given a three-year community sentence.

The NMC's Conduct and Competence Committee considered her case in 2007, noting her unblemished professional record and the fact she had been a nurse "all her adult life".

Chandrasekera had also returned to work "satisfactorily" while awaiting disciplinary proceedings.

But the NMC struck her off the nursing register after deciding the nurse's "fitness to practise" was impaired by her manslaughter conviction.

Chandrasekera's legal challenge was based on the claim the decision was excessive in light of her exemplary professional record and her mental state when she killed her husband.

Judge Symons, however, rejected the ex-nurse's challenge, although acknowledging it was a "sad and difficult case".

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