A husband who repeatedly stabbed his wife’s lover in a jealous rage has been jailed for eight-and-a-half years.

Jason Sansom smashed in the door of a house and launched the attack as Jamie Crichton lay defenceless in bed.

The 26-year-old father only stopped the onslaught when Mr Crichton pleaded for his life, saying: "I have got a family. I have got two daughters."

Sansom, of Farrier Close, Weavering, admitted wounding with intent and his not guilty plea to attempted murder was accepted.

Maidstone Crown Court heard one of the wounds to the neck was close to the jugular vein and vital artery.

A judge told Sansom: "The injuries were at first thought to be life threatening. Fortunately that was not to be the case. But for that you would be facing a different type of sentence."

After Sansom discovered his wife Stacey had been in regular contact with the victim, he called Mr Crichton and asked if he had been sleeping with his wife.

He threatened: "If you make contact with her again you are a dead man. Don’t lie to me or I will kill you."

Andrew Espley, prosecuting, said three days later on the morning of January 14 Mrs Sansom admitted she had been having an affair.

Sansom attacked her in front of their son, aged two, and then forced her to take him to Mr Crichton’s home in Dickens Road, Maidstone.

When they arrived, Sansom ordered his wife to follow him. He made her knock on the door but there was no answer. He went to a garden and returned with a gas cylinder and used it as battering ram to get in.

Mr Crichton, 26, was in bed wearing just boxer shorts and a T-shirt. Sansom burst into the room, saying: "I am going to kill you. I am going to slit your throat."

He added: "I want you to look at my slag wife as I do it."

After hitting Mr Crichton with his laptop computer, he stabbed him in the head with a potato peeler knife.

"He stabbed him in the arm," said the prosecutor. "He lunged at him twice more at least and stabbed him in the body and legs. One stab wound was in the neck."

Mr Crichton pleaded with Sansom to stop. Sansom asked: "Give me one good reason why I shouldn’t drag you downstairs and kill you in front of her?"

It was when the victim replied he had two young daughters the attack stopped.

Mr Crichton was taken to Maidstone Hospital and his wounds were treated.

Peter Woodall, defending, said no one more than Sansom appreciated the seriousness of what he had done.

"He was hard working with a son and a future," he said. "It is very much a tragedy, albeit one entirely of his own making.

"He bitterly regrets his actions. He behaved out of character in launching this unforgivable attack. He was consumed by fury. He is genuinely ashamed.

"The consequences will live with him and others for the rest of his life."

Judge Philip Statman said Sansom had been determined to "sort out" his victim after discovering his wife’s infidelity.

Mr Crichton’s plea for mercy seemed to have some impact on Sansom and he stopped the attack.

"The injury to the neck was particularly grave," he said. "I express the view there was a very high level of premeditation."

The judge added he had received a plethora of testimonials which showed the offence was out of character.