A man who repeatedly beat his terrified wife with a metal pole while he raped her three times has had his life sentence overturned.

Dawn Predigest was attacked by her husband Zing, 48, in his basement recording studio.

He was jailed for life after admitting rape at Maidstone Crown Court last October.

But he has now convinced the Court of Appeal in London that the life term was wrong. He will now serve an indefinite sentence for public protection of at least five years.

Delivering the court's judgment, Mrs Justice Cox spelled out the seriousness of Predigest's vicious attack.

She said: "The rape offences themselves were brutal and shocking and were committed with the purpose of causing the complainant both pain and humiliation.

"Her ordeal was prolonged and there were repeated rapes."

The court heard that Predigest turned violent almost immediately after he lured his wife into the basement.

He punched and repeatedly hit her with the leg of a tripod as he raped her.

Eventually, he took her to a nearby park and left her to be found in agony by a park warden.

But this week, lawyers said that when the life sentence was passed the judge did not take into account the lack of similar offences in his past.

Predigest has four previous convictions including one for manslaughter, an offence committed when he and a female friend beat a man so badly that he choked on his own vomit and died.

Lawyers said too much emphasis was put on that conviction.

Allowing his appeal, Mrs Justice Cox said life sentences should be kept for the most serious of offences and offenders and that the indeterminate sentence was more appropriate.

The court rejected his appeal against the five-year minimum he will have to serve before applying for his release.