A CHEPSTOW man would have killed his ex-wife's new partner if removal men had not intervened, a court has heard.

John Way, of St Lawrence Park, Chepstow, stabbed his ex-wife's partner four times and has been sentenced to 14 years in prison for attempted murder.

Way was handed the sentence on Friday 15th May at Cardiff Crown Court.

Way, aged 51, was given a 14 year sentence for attempted murder, 21 weeks for actual bodily harm and six months for possession of a bladed article, with the terms to run concurrently. He will serve at least half of that term in custody.

On 25th November 2014, Way went to the house of his former wife, known at the time as Miss Jayne McKendrick, and stabbed her partner, now husband, Mr Julian Davies, four times in the neck and shoulder.

He went around to the house armed with a knife after apparently being tipped off by a neighbour that a firm of removers were outside the property.

Mrs Davies (nee Miss McKendrick) and Mr Davies were due to move together to the Caerwent area that day, before Way drove to their house on Woolpitch Wood, Chepstow. Davies and McKendrick were married this February.

Jealous Way went into the house as Mr Davies was outside in the separate garage, and challenged Mrs Davies as to what was going on, asking "is he (Mr Davies) here, is he here?"

Way continued: "The b******'s ruined my life."

She insisted that Mr Davies was not at home and tried to talk Way into leaving. As Mr Davies came back into the house, Way took a knife with a six-inch blade from his left sleeve and attacked him.

Way stabbed Mr Davies on the left side of his neck and shoulder four times and left a slash across the victim's chest. He was only prevented from causing further harm by the actions of removal men Adrian Hambleton and Ben Bastin, and Mrs Davies.

Along with inflicting the stab wounds to Mr Davies, Way also caused cuts to Mrs Davies's hands and hit her in the head during the commotion.

Way dropped the knife after someone shouted that he had hit Mrs Davies and he turned and left the property.

Mrs Davies and the removals men took Mr Davies through to the lounge from the hall, where the attack took place, and the emergency services were called and first aid given.

Mrs Davies put pressure on the wounds before paramedics arrived and took Mr Davies to the Royal Gwent Hospital.

Way was later arrested at his parents' house in St Lawrence Park, where he was living at the time. A search of his car, which had been parked at Chepstow Community Hospital, found another knife in the boot, while letters in his home were addressed to family members, with one saying "If you are reading this, I am probably in prison".

A letter to his parents said something similar and apologised for any shame brought about by what he had done while another letter appeared to put his effects in order, including his bank accounts.

These facts, presented to the court by Senior Crown Advocate Michael Jones, prosecuting, brought Mrs Justice Carr to consider the premeditated nature of the crime. She stated that she would have sentenced Way to 16 years but gave a "very generous" discount because of his guilty plea.

She said that, having stabbed Mr Davies four times that he (Way) intended to kill him and that, but for the actions of the removals men, the consequences could have been far worse.

Mrs Justice Carr concluded that it was "a horrific and unprovoked attack on an unarmed man."

After the sentence was given, DC Rod Webb of Gwent Police said: "Firstly I want to recognise the bravery of the removals guys. They prevented an even worse incident from happening.

"It was a horrific incident, a remarkable incident."