Man who stabbed wife to death in front of their children loses appeal

Mullingar man David Bourke has lost his appeal against his conviction for murdering his wife Jean Gilbert at their home in Dublin, 5 years ago.

He was not in court for today's ruling.

He was jailed in 2009 for murdering his 46-year-old wife Jean Gilbert in their home at Laverna Dale, Castleknock, Dublin 15, on August 28, 2007.

He gave evidence at his trial that he had a good relationship with his wife until June of that year when she told him that she loved someone else, and wanted to separate.

When she returned from meeting her lover, Robert Campion, Bourke lunged at her with a knife in front of their three children, stabbing her in the back four times before dialling 999 and trying to resuscitate her.

At his trial, he claimed he was provoked.

On appeal, his trial lawyers said that the trial judge misrepresented his defence to the jury, rewriting the law on provocation on the spot.

But the three-judge Court of Criminal Appeal today upheld the conviction, finding that the trial judge's charge was conspicuously fair.