A battered wife who fatally stabbed her abusive husband was today launching a bid for freedom.

Donna Tinker was jailed for life in April 2000 after a jury found her guilty of the murder of Richard Tinker.

The 32-year-old mother-of-three stabbed him with a vegetable knife in June 1999 as he held his arm around her neck and threatened her with a hot iron in the kitchen of their home in Norwich Drive, Harrogate, North Yorkshire.

The single blow punctured a lung and he died in hospital a week later.

Her defence of provocation was not accepted in court despite evidence of the injuries she had suffered an hour before the stabbing - including a black eye, broken tooth and bruised jaw.

Her application for permission to appeal will be heard at the Court of Appeal in London by Lord Justice Kennedy, Mr Justice Sachs and Mrs Justice Hallett.

Her appeal is expected to focus on evidence from her young daughter, which backed up her mother's version of events that evening and was never put before the jury.

Tinker's case has been taken up by Justice for Women and other pressure groups.

Her three daughters now live with their maternal grandparents, Alan and Margaret Hall, near Newcastle upon Tyne.