A FORMER squaddie who stabbed his sleeping girlfriend seven times in the neck with a ‘Rambo’ knife has failed in a bid to persuade top judges to overturn his conviction.

Scott Smith, aged 22, of Carlisle Road, Ronkswood, Worcester, attacked Kirsty Holmes in January last year as she lay asleep in bed in his parents’ home, narrowly missing her arteries and spinal cord.

He was jailed for 15 years at Worcester Crown Court on August 30 last year, having been convicted of attempted murder and pleading guilty to wounding with intent.

Yesterday Smith, who al-ways maintained he never meant to kill his victim, asked Mr Justice Gross, Mr Justice Blake and Judge Peter Rook QC, sitting at London’s Criminal Appeal Court, to overturn his conviction.

The court was told the jealous attack happened in Smith’s parents’ home in Worcester at 3.30am on January 16 last year.

Smith – who served with the 2nd Mercian Regiment, and was obsessed with hunting knives – repeatedly stabbed Miss Holmes on the left side of the head and neck.

The attack followed a trip to a nightclub, and came on the heels of a period during which the couple had split up several times.

Smith, the prosecution said, had grown jealous of her wearing short skirts and talking to other men.

Miss Holmes, 21, was discovered by Smith’s father, who dialled 999 and she was taken to hospital where she needed dozens of stitches. Smith later claimed he had learned how to use a knife in bayonet training, and had intentionally not killed his victim.

Lawyers for Smith criticised the way the judge at his trial directed the jury in relation to how to decide whether he was guilty of attempted murder.

It was submitted that the judge’s use of the word “certain” during his directions, following a question from jurors on the law, “may have confused the jury and made them apply a lower standard of proof than that required”.

It was claimed that the judge ought to have spelled out that the jury had to be “sure beyond a reasonable doubt” of his guilt rather than being just “certain”.

But Lord Justice Gross dismissed his application for permission to appeal, saying: “We are not persuaded that the judge’s answer to the jury’s question did anything to cause a misunderstanding or endanger the safety of this conviction”.