A FORMER soldier from Worcester has been found guilty of trying to kill his girlfriend with a Rambo-type knife while she slept.

Scott Smith, aged 21, of Carlisle Road, Ronkswood, has been told he faces a long prison sentence after a jury at Worcester Crown Court found him guilty by a majority verdict of 10-2.

There were gasps from the packed public gallery as the verdict was announced. The jury was first sent out on Friday and spent a total of seven-and-a-half hours deliberating.

The court was told of Smith’s volatile relationship with 20-year-old Kirsty Holmes, of Warndon, who burst into tears and was consoled by family members and friends after the verdict.

Smith was jealous and they spilt up several times but were together again in the early hours of Sunday, January 16, this year, when they walked home hand-in-hand from a nightclub in Worcester.

She was asleep in his bed when he attacked her with a Rambo-type knife and she suffered seven wounds to her neck, fortunately missing vital arteries.

She told the court that she could remember nothing of the attack except waking up in a pool of blood.

Smith, who served with the 2nd Mercian regiment for two-and-a-half years, said he had been taught to kill when bayonet training in the Army but he stopped when he realised that if he carried on he could have killed Kirsty.

He intended to do no more than hurt her.

Smith denied attempted murder but the jury was told he had pleaded guilty to an alternative charge of wounding with intent to cause serious harm, which will not now stand.

Judge Robert Juckes told Smith he had been convicted of one of the most serious crimes and could expect a substantial prison term. He was remanded in custody for sentencing on Monday, August 15.

After the verdict, acting Detective Sergeant Mark Morton, from Worcester CID, said: “We take knife crime very seriously and work hard to deter people from carrying weapons.

"We are determined to bring offenders before the courts and make sure they get the justice they deserve.”