A KILLER police officer who was jailed after stabbing his wife 96 times could make an early bid for freedom.

Graham Ivor Jones stabbed his wife, Maria, with a kitchen knife in the couple's home in Ingleby Barwick, Teesside.

He pleaded guilty to manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility and is serving an eight-year jail sentence at Moorland jail, near Doncaster.

Jones will be able to apply for parole about half-way through his sentence.

Should this be rejected, he will automatically be released on licence at the two-thirds point of the sentence, albeit under supervision.

Maria Jones's father, Ron Phillips, said: "The probation service told me he will be eligible to apply for parole as early as December 2008.

"However, I have been told it is not normal for somebody who has committed that sort of crime to get parole on his first application.

"But he is a policeman, and while they are not supposed to get preferential treatment, he will be a problem to the prison authorities.

"Whatever happens, I feel it would be crazy for him to get eight years and then be let out in probably five for doing what he did."

Mr Phillips said he was not allowed to object to Jones's early release, but understood that he would have a say on where he would live once freed.

The Northern Echo understands that Jones has been subject to threats while at Moorland.

However, the 41-year-old has not been segregated and is mixing freely with fellow prisoners.

Jones was convicted at Teesside Crown Court in June and then dismissed from his job by Cleveland Police after a disciplinary hearing.