SURGEONS battled desperately to save the life of little Ben. But his father Les Pepall's violent revenge was to prove all too successful.

Police say several of the stab wounds he cold-bloodedly inflicted on the four-year-old punctured the child's heart.

Eventually the reluctant decision was taken to turn the equipment off and prepare the tiny body for its journey to the mortuary.

This is a case which has shocked not only the public but experienced police officers too.

Today Pepall, the man who brutally stabbed Ben to death and nearly killed 11-month-old daughter Chloe, is starting a life sentence for murder.

The 28-year-old attacked the babes he had fathered as punishment for the collapse of his marriage. He was driven by anger and vengeance after Jean Pepall, 29, left him for Gavin Stevens, the friend who had been best man at their wedding.

The trial at Winchester Crown Court heard how on the night of August 6 last year, Pepall was looking after the children at their home in The Shrubbery, Brockhurst, Gosport, while Mrs Pepall was with her boyfriend.

He stripped them naked, took them to a bedroom and then repeatedly and fatally stabbed Ben, before severely wounding Chloe, who survived the attack. Pepall then stabbed himself but was still alive when the emergency services arrived.

The five-woman and seven-man jury took two-and-a-half hours yesterday afternoon to reach a unanimous verdict.

There were cries of "Yes!" from the public gallery followed by sobs from Mrs Pepall. The husband she is divorcing crumpled into his chair and put his head in his hands, a pose he had adopted through large parts of the six-day trial.

After the verdict Mrs Pepall said: "My son Ben was a beautiful, cheeky, innocent four-year-old who had his whole life ahead of him. He, along with Chloe, were left with someone they both trusted and who they thought loved them.

"Both sides of the family have been absolutely devastated and it is something we will never be able to come to terms with.

"What gives anybody the right to take the life of a child, especially someone who claimed to love and care about them so much?

"There is no sentence which is justice enough for the devastation he has caused to so many. We have to come to terms with what has happened to us and try to rebuild our lives as best we can and get through each day as it comes.

"We have to look forward for Chloe's sake."

Pepall had denied murder but admitted manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility. He claimed he was suffering an adjustment disorder, a relatively minor mental illness. But he had pleaded guilty to the attempted murder of Chloe.

Trial judge Mr Justice Cresswell, jailed Pepall for life, with five years for the at-tempted murder to be served concurrently.

"You took the life of your son and nearly took the life of your daughter because you were determined to deprive your wife and her lover of any further enjoyment of your children," he said.

"On the jury's verdict, your responsibility was not diminished. The adjustment disorder did not impair your responsibility for what you did.

"The cruel killing of your son and the attempted killing of your daughter reflected your personality traits: your temper, self-centredness and capacity for deception."

The trial heard that Pepall killed less than a day after leaving The Meadows psychiatric unit at Coldeast Hospital, near Fareham. He had admitted himself because he said he was suicidal at the impending break-up of his marriage.

The trial heard Pepall persuaded doctors to allow him home even as he formed the dreadful plan to kill his children and then himself.

He told his wife she would have three funerals to contend with.

In a suicide note he wrote to Jean and Gavin, Pepall said: "If you thought for one minute I was going to let you play happy families with my two children you can see now you are clearly wrong.

"I brought the children into this world but I am now leaving this world and I am taking them with me."

Detective Inspector Clive Merriett, who led the inquiry, said: "Anyone who commits the atrocity Pepall committed has got to be a very violent individual. A lot of people murder, but very few murder their children. It's something I find difficult to comprehend in a parent, somebody who wants to murder their children in a manner like this.

"This is a very tragic case where everyone is a loser. Pepall has to live with the knowledge he has killed his son. Mrs Pepall has to live with a loss which can never be replaced.

"The emergency services and police officers that dealt with this will always be scarred by the trauma."