Solicitor convicted

A solicitor from Rotherham has been sentenced to seven years in prison for stabbing his wife to death after discovering she was having an affair.

Les Humes, a partner at south Yorkshire firm Hickmotts, was charged with manslaughter last month at Sheffield Crown Court for the attack he carried out in front of his two young children at their home.

A transcript of the emergency call made by Mr Humes' 14-year-old daughter Laura, in which she described to the operator her father attacking her mother, and then turning the knife on himself, was read out in court.

Mr Humes was reportedly a happy, hard-working father, but changed when his wife of 15 years told him last December that he was spending too much time at work and, subsequently, that she was having an affair with a karate instructor.

He later attacked her before stabbing himself in the stomach.

Diminished responsibility brought the charge down to manslaughter.

A spokesman for the Office for the Supervision of Solicitors, said: 'We were aware of the criminal proceedings and the subsequent convictions.

We will be considering Mr Humes' case and taking appropriate steps in due course.'

Hickmotts - which has three other partners - declined to comment.

Andrew Towler