A FORMER Suffolk pub owner who stabbed his wife to death with a bayonet has been told he will serve at least 17 years in prison.A jury at Ipswich Crown Court took less than three hours yesterday to find 59-year-old Paul Green guilty of killing Sharon Green.

A FORMER Suffolk pub owner who stabbed his wife to death with a bayonet has been told he will serve at least 17 years in prison.

A jury at Ipswich Crown Court took less than three hours yesterday to find 59-year-old Paul Green guilty of killing Sharon Green. He was jailed for a minimum of 17 years as part of a mandatory life sentence this morning.

The court heard that Green, who lived with his 53-year-old wife at the former Old Bell public house in Marlesford, had stabbed her in the chest five times with a bayonet which was part of a collection of Second World War memorabilia he kept in a 'museum' at the pub and had then tried to kill himself by driving into a tree.

Green had three grown up children with his wife and during the four-day trial son Edward Green, 29, described how he desperately tried to save his mother's life after finding her blood-stained body lying on his parents' bedroom floor.

He had tried to give her the kiss of life while waiting for paramedics to arrive but was unsuccessful because of the extent of her injuries.

The court also heard evidence from Steven Pye, of Bramford, who got to know the Greens after doing repairs to the thatched roof of the Old Bell after it was closed as a pub and converted into a private residence by the couple.

Mr Pye, a bachelor, denied having an affair with Mrs Green but accepted exchanging text messages and e-mails with her.

Giving evidence during the trial Green, who denied murdering his wife, said that on the morning of her death he had decided to ask her if she had been contacting Mr Pye on the computer and, as he made his way to their bedroom, he had picked up a bayonet with a 10 -inch blade.

He claimed he had intended to frighten his wife with it but had stabbed her after she allegedly told him she had been having sex with Mr Pye for six months and had also had a two-year affair with a family friend.

Green said he remembered inflicting the first two wounds after she told him: 'I go through the motions with you.' But he could not remember inflicting the other wounds.