A FORMER Gurkha who tried to kill his wife with a kukri after learning she was having an affair has been told his jail term will not be cut.

Bikash Gurung, 42, chopped at the neck and head of his wife, later telling their children he had killed her.

The victim, who was seeing another man after enduring an unhappy marriage with Gurung, was left with a fractured skull, neck and facial bones.

One of her fingers was almost severed during the attack with the Nepalese ceremonial knife.

Gurung, of Boynton Close, Coate, pleaded guilty at Bristol Crown Court in September to attempted murder.

He was jailed for 14 years, plus a five-year extended licence period, after being labelled a dangerous offender.

Yesterday his appeal was rejected. Judge Clement Goldstone QC, sitting in the Appeal Court, concluded: "His wife suffered and continues to suffer. He affected the lives of everybody in his family when he tried to kill his wife.

"The attack took place in the family home where she was entitled to feel safe.

"The children witnessed either the attack or its aftermath and were told by Gurung that he had killed their mother.

"He continued to attack her notwithstanding her screams.

"The violence was extreme, sustained and prolonged and became gratuitous.

"This was an attack in the context of an unhappy marriage in which both parties had sought solace outside the relationship.

"The judge was quite entitled to make a finding of dangerousness and this application is refused."

The court heard Gurung attacked his wife in an explosion of anger after she found a new boyfriend and told him she wanted to leave him in December 2016.

The former soldier, who left the Gurkhas in 2012, picked up a kukri and began to chop at her.

She was already on the phone to a 999 operator when he launched the attack.

Gurung kept six kukris around the house and told police he had killed his wife when they arrived at the family home.

She survived with serious injuries which will affect her for the rest of her life.

His young children were present in the house at the time and were told by their father he had slain their mother.

Lawyers for Gurung argued that his acquittal on other charges should have resulted in a shorter sentence.

They also pointed to his positive good character and 23 years exemplary service with the Gurkhas.