A Dorset man has been jailed for eight and a half years for attacking a couple with a meat cleaver.

Martin Leonard, 65, from Crossways, was sentenced by a Tenerife court for malicious wounding and aggravated assault and battery. Alcohol was considered a mitigating factor.

Prosecutors had sought a total jail term of 22 years on two charges of attempted murder and one of causing serious bodily harm.

But the court ruled that Leonard had no intention of killing his victims when he launched the unprovoked attack at the Next Door Bar in the Malibu Park hotel, Playa de las Americas, on the south coast of the Canary island in January 2012.

The sentence was signed by the president of the Tenerife Criminal Court, Joaquín Astor.

British expat couple Andy and Wendy Stewart, from Doncaster, suffered horrific facial injuries from the cleaver.

The court in Tenerife heard last month how witnesses described Leonard brandishing a seven-inch kitchen knife and a 13-inch meat cleaver at the Next Door Bar in Malibu Park.

A holidaymaker stepped in to restrain Leonard, risking his own life in the attempt.

The defendant, who had been held on remand on the island since his arrest a day after the incident, was a regular winter visitor and had an apartment at the park.

Prosecutors said Leonard became embroiled in a heated argument with the Stewarts.

According to witnesses, Leonard was asked to leave the premises after the altercation but returned minutes later, brandishing the weapons.

He allegedly lashed out at Mr Stewart, slashing him in the head and left shoulder.

Doctors said Mr Stewart suffered a deep wound from the bridge of his nose to his hairline.

His wife sustained serious facial injuries as she tried to protect her husband and required 21 stitches to sew her ear back on after it was nearly completely sliced off.

Doctors told the court that the ear was ‘hanging on by the skin’ when she was admitted to hospital for urgent treatment.

A third person, Lynn Gilliard, who was working in the bar that night, had tendons severed in three fingers of her right hand as she stepped in to protect Wendy.

Leonard told the court he had drunk “at least eight pints of beer” on the night of the assault. The court heard that Leonard was eventually restrained by a holidaymaker, father-of-two Paul Matthews, a former car salesman from Stourbridge, who bravely wrestled him to the ground .

The victims spoke of their “relief” at the end of the trial last month.

Leonard has been held on remand in Tenerife since January 2012. He was ordered to pay £43,500 compensation.

Prior to the attack pensioner Leonard, an arthritis sufferer, spent 14 winters at Playa de las Americas.