THE family of a police officer who stabbed his wife to death have spoken for the first time about the events that led to the killing.

Ivor Jones was jailed for eight years after he admitted the manslaughter of his partner, Maria, who had taunted him about her affair with a younger man.

The former Cleveland Police officer, who has served two years of his sentence, was recently criticised by his victim's family after it was revealed he tried to be moved to a lower category prison.

But now Jones' sister, Debbie Robertson, said the only reason he wanted to move was to be closer to his two young sons.

And she revealed how her brother suffered years of depression caused by the horrors he witnessed as a police officer and the deaths of his mother, brother and father.

Mrs Robertson, from Ingleby Barwick, near Stockton, also told how Jones, 42, was attacked in prison after fellow inmates realised he was a former police officer.

But she said he has been a model inmate who could be released in two years and be reunited with sons, Ashley, 12, and Lewis, ten.

Every two weeks, Mrs Robertson, who looks after the children in the house where their mother died, drives Ashley and Lewis to see their father in Moorland Prison, near Doncaster, South Yorkshire - a round-trip of 160 miles.

But the boys, who regularly send letters to their father, have written to him asking if he can be moved to a prison nearer.

Last month, he asked to be moved to Kirklevington Grange, near Yarm, which is about five miles from the family home and where some inmates are allowed to work in the community.

The application, which was rejected, provoked an angry response from Ron Phillips, the father of Maria, who was stabbed 96 times by Jones.

But Mrs Robertson said: "Ron should think about his grandchildren. They loved their mother, but they now need their father.

"If he tries to get Ivor moved when he is released, it will affect the boys' stability at such a crucial time in their education."

Jones was charged with murder, although the court later accepted his plea of manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility.

Mrs Robertson, a local government officer, said: "He has been a model prisoner all the time he has been inside.

"He also helps a lot of the other prisoners. He helps some of them write letters.

"The boys used to go to see him every week, but they suffer from travel sickness and it is expensive driving all that way, so we can only go once a fortnight now.

"He does not want to be moved to Kirklevington because it is a cushy prison.

"Ironically, he could have more problems because he is more likely to meet criminals he has dealt with as a police officer."