A JILTED father who tried to kill his wife in a frenzied stab attack after he found she had been messaging another man on Facebook has been jailed for 18 years.

Murateb Hussain, 44, hid outside the family home in Fernleigh Row, Slough, armed with a knife in March last year, before jumping in his wife’s car as she pulled into the drive.

He became 'angry’ when he heard his 28-year-old wife on the phone via loudspeaker to love rival Mohammed Ali and told her 'leave him and return to me or I will kill you’, before knifing her 11 times.

Judge Stephen John, sentencing Hussain on Monday, said: “The motive for this attempted killing was plainly your inability to deal with your wife’s refusal, even at the point of a knife, to give up her association with Ali.” Hussain, wearing grey jogging bottoms and a grey jumper, was described as a devout Muslim and hard-working family man. The Pakistan national moved to the UK when he married for love Murateb in 2008.

But Reading Crown Court heard the relationship became strained due to Hussain’s long working hours and he found she had met Ali on Facebook in January last year.

He had left the family home after police were called for an incident of domestic accord on March 24.

He continued to see his children at the family home and after a visit on March 31 told his wife he wanted to kill himself - showing her a knife. Murateb took it off him, but he returned later that night to get the knife before hiding outside.

Murateb, returning from looking at a new house with Ali, pulled into the driveway at around 11.45pm when Hussain pounced.

“You became angrier when you learned that Ali was listening to the conversation as the mobile connection not yet broken,” Judge John added.

“You stabbed her twice before locking the car doors. She screamed and you stabbed her again. She pleaded with you about the children, you stabbed her once more, grasped her scarf to strangle her saying you were going to take her heart that day and you stabbed her again.” However he felt guilt and drove his wife to Wexham Park Hospital telling a receptionist he had killed his wife. She had 11 wounds to her torso, one which could have been fatal had it not been treated immediately, the court heard.

The court heard Ali has since vanished from the UK after his visa expired and Murateb plans to remain with Hussain. She fled the court in tears after the sentencing.

Hussain had pleaded guilty to grevious bodily harm with intent but denied attempted murder. However jurors took less than five hours to find him guilty after a three-day trial at Reading Crown Court on Thursday last week.

Detective Sergeant Steve Middleweek, from Bracknell local CID, speaking after the sentencing, said: “This was a frenzied attack on a young mother as she was sat in her car.

“Hopefully this conviction, and the knowledge that Hussain will now face time in prison, will help the victim move on with her life and find some closure after this horrific assault.”