A grandfather from Ilford who stabbed his daughter-in-law in the face in front of her young children because he thought she was being unfaithful to his son has today been jailed for more than 10 years.

Manjit Singh Mirgind, 51, of Mayfair Avenue, told Jageer Mirgind he was going to kill her as he tried gouge her eyes out, accusing her of having “slept with a Paki”, a court heard.

Mrs Mirgind’s children, aged three and six, pleaded with their grandfather to stop and take them to school as he attacked their mother, leaving her with blurred vision in her left eye and half vision in her right.

Sentencing at Snaresbrook Crown Court today, judge Nigel Peters QC told Margind this was a “manic and horrific” attack motivated by a belief his daughter-in-law had been unfaithful.

He said: “There’s major scarring to her face, there’s serious injury to her left wrist, she now has a stutter,” before adding: “What is so distressing in this case was that your grandchildren, grandchildren aged three and six, witnessed this offence from beginning to end.

“They pleaded with you to stop but you did not stop.”

Mirgind was initially charged with attempted murder over the attack in Kensington Gardens, but prosecutors later accepted a guilty plea to the charge of grievous bodily harm (GBH).

Today Mirgind, who sat impassive in the dock as he was sentenced for the assault on December 18 last year, was jailed for 10 years and eight months, half of which he will serve, with the rest on licence.

In mitigation, defence barrister Edward Boateng-Adoo said Mirgind was a “hard-working family man” who often drove his grandchildren to temple and regretted his actions.

Following the incident, which put Mrs Mirgind in hospital for three days and resulted in her separating from her husband, Mirgind turned himself in.