The former partner of an ex-Miss Scotland finalist has been sentenced to nearly 15 years in jail for her attempted murder.
State prosecutors asked trial judges to cage William McDonald for eight years if they convicted him of the brutal stabbing of Mhairi Campbell following a one-day trial at a court in Alicante last month.
Today it emerged he had been handed a 14-year, 11-month prison sentence after the three judges sided with a private lawyer acting for Mhairi who said his July 19 2017 crime warranted a stiffer punishment.
They agreed 61-year-old McDonald had sought to minimise his victim's ability to defend herself and increase his chances of hurting her, making him guilty of a crime of attempted murder under Spanish law and not attempted homicide which carries a shorter sentence in Spain.
In a written 22-page sentence issued by Alicante Provincial Court's First Section, lead trial judge Jose Antonio Dura Carrillo ruled: 'The attack on the victim was a surprise one when she had her back turned to the accused and it consisted of an initial stabbing to her side followed by another one to her left arm when she was on the floor and saw her attacker with the knife.
'The weapon used was capable of causing death and the area where the stabbings occurred put the victim's life at risk.
'There is no doubt about the defendant's wish to kill his victim and not just injure her.'
He added: 'It should be noted that even though the result of death sought by the accused did not prosper, everything that should have caused it occurred including his use of the means to bring it about.
William McDonald, 61, was today handed a 14-year, 11-month prison sentence at Alicante Provisional Court (pictured) for the attempted murder of his ex-partner Mhairi Campbell
'The fact it didn't occur was for reasons outside his control.'
East Kilbride-born Mhairi split with McDonald, from Rutherglen near Glasgow, around two weeks before the stabbing following a five-year relationship.
It occurred at her holiday home in Rojales near Torrevieja in the early hours of July 19 2017 after he showed up despite a restraining order and they began to row.
The court sentencing document said it had been proven Mhairi was attacked after asking him to leave the property when he started shouting at her and demanding money.
After stabbing her McDonald asked her if she wanted to write a letter to her daughter as she lay bleeding and in agony on her bed, before proceeding to clean the crime scene with bleach
