Life for 'carbon copy' stabbing

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A man who stabbed his second wife to death, 19 years after carrying out a "carbon copy" attack on his first wife who survived, has been jailed for life.

David Buchan, 53, stabbed his wife Gillian in the chest nine times as she lay in bed at their home in Penarth.

He admitted murder at Cardiff Crown Court and will serve at least 14 years.

The court heard it was almost identical to an attack on his first wife with a steak knife in 1988, for which he was jailed for seven years.

Buchan had met mother-of-two Gillian and married her in 1998, after he was released from prison for stabbing his first wife six times in the chest.

For that offence, he had been cleared of attempted murder but found guilty of wounding.

Kitchen knife

The court heard how he had a history of violence against his second wife and although police had called to their home, she had refused to press charges.

But last November, he fatally stabbed her several times.

Prosecutor Greg Bull QC said: "On the night Mrs Buchan died the neighbours heard him accusing her of hiding his mobile phone.

"She was later found dead in the marital bed with nine stab wounds to the chest and abdomen.

"It was a carbon copy of an attack on his previous wife in 1988. She was stabbed in the chest with a kitchen knife."

The court heard Buchan had been banned from driving just two days earlier for a drink-driving offence.