A CONVICTED Romanian killer who was allowed to enter the UK has been jailed for trying to stab his sister-in-law to death in a savage street attack in Lye.

Judge Amjad Nawaz at Wolverhampton Crown Court told Gheorghe Mihai it was clear that if the right trigger was pushed his reaction was "highly unpredictable and highly volatile".

He said the 38-year-old, who was sentenced to seven years in his home country in 2006 for battering a man to death with a piece of wood after an argument, he was someone capable of losing control.

And he had proved that, added the Judge, by the commission of his crime and his earlier conviction for murder.

Mihai, he went on, was "dangerous and he represented a serious risk of causing harm to members of the public in the future".

He told Mihai, a father-of-one, he would have to serve a minimum of ten years behind bars and he would only be allowed back onto the streets when the authorities felt he was safe.

Mihai, of Park Street, Lye, had denied attempting to murder Roxana Mihai and possessing a large kitchen knife but he was found guilty at the end of his trial.

The jury had been told Mihai, who had been drinking heavily, chased the victim along Lye High Street and stabbed her five times after she refused to give him £5 to buy more alcohol.

Roxana Mihai sustained wounds to her face, arms, head and back in the brutal attack but fortunately none of her injuries were life-threatening.

Matthew Brook, prosecuting, said that before the attack Mihai had told a drinking partner: "I am going to kill someone. I am going to jail for ten years."

The knife attack ended, the court heard, when Mihai''s brother arrived on the scene and he then punched him hard on the face.

In evidence - Mihai maintained the knife belonged to his sister-in-la\w and he said he was trying to return it. "When I ran after her I wasn't angry. I had nothing against her. I did not intend to murder her. I could not do such a thing."

He killed the man in Romania, said Mr Brook, when he got into an argument at a christening party before lashing out with the piece of wood.

Lee Masters, defending, said Mihai was intoxicated and stressed that was no excuse for his actions and he suggested his sister-in-law, who had since returned to Romania with her husband, had been misbehaving with other men.

He added: "There was something behind why this occurred. It is difficult to say it arose out of her refusal to give him £5 for alcohol."

Mihai, who held his head in his hands as he was jailed, did not have to reveal his murder conviction to get into the country.

Romania is a member of the European Union and its citizens benefit from free movement rights and currently do not need a visa to work here.