WATCH: Husband jailed for stabbing his wife 15 times was a star singer in Romania with millions of online fans

Dan Draghici thrilled fans in his homeland of Romania and other European countries with a distinctive brand of ballad. Then the music died.

He had become a failed singer by the time he reached England to set up home with second wife Elena in Fenton Road, Smethwick.

The proud but cash-strapped 42-year-old was forced to accept that his wife was now the breadwinner for the family.

She worked at 2 Sisters Chicken Factory not far from their house. He had a major drug problem with heroin and cocaine.

Draghici had suffered repeated tragedy in his life with the loss of his much-loved first wife to cancer and the premature deaths of a sister and two brothers. There was a history of suicide in his family.

Elena, aged 31, helped to lift the sadness. They were together for 12 years and married in 2009 after the birth of their only child, now aged eight.

But he became increasingly controlling, trying to dictate where she went, how she dressed and whom she mixed with, although the iron grip on her life was loosened by him being forced to let her go out to work to make ends meet. This played on his mind and set the scene for his bid to kill her at their home on March 2.

Judge James Burbidge QC sentenced him to 20 years' prison at Wolverhampton Crown Court on Wednesday.

Draghici developed an 'irrational' belief that she was having an affair with somebody at work and repeatedly threatened to kill Elena, their daughter and himself if she tried to leave him.

She took this warning so seriously that a fail safe system was established with a woman workmate using the mobile messaging device Whatsapp and the code word 'meat.'

If it was included in a message from her to the pal – who had a better understanding of English – it meant her life was in danger and the other woman should immediately contact the police.

Draghici stabbed Elena 15 times in a frenzied attack after a last-ditch attempt to talk her out of leaving him failed.

She was saved by her sister Nicoleta who rushed downstairs to jump on the back of the attacker and disarm him. One doctor who treated Elena said her injuries were the worst he had seen.

Judge Burbidge declared: "I am sure you loved your wife deeply and this happened because of your desperation at the prospect of losing her love and going out of her life. You could not bear that."

The day before the attack, Draghici bought three knives and used the largest of them in the attack.

The judge observed: "Mercifully, perhaps miraculously, the wounds avoided the major organs."

Elena, who broke free after the intervention of her sister Nicoleta, flagged down passing cars to raise the alarm and alerted police who arrested her husband.

She disclosed the physical and emotional effects of the attack on both her and her daughter in a moving statement that revealed:

"I have been left with numerous scars and each one disturbs me. I am very conscious of the scar on my chin. It is the first thing people see when they look at me."

She is being considered for plastic surgery but added: "The many scars on my arms are so ugly I have to wear long sleeved clothes.

"Maybe people in England will not judge me harshly because of this but in Romania they would assume that I associated with people who cause injuries but I am not like that."

Elena concluded: "I cannot forget how he stabbed me with so much power. I have a picture of it in my head every time I close my eyes. It is unbelievable, what he has done.

"I know for certain he will come after me when released from prison. He will not let me rest. He will kill me because he has nothing to live for.

"Every day my daughter Anna says that she does not want me to die. She never spoke like this before the stabbing. She has never asked to see her dad since it happened."