AN aspiring actress, jailed for life for murdering a Warrington woman out of lust for her husband, has lost a bid to bring forward her likely release.

Jenny Cupit, who pleaded guilty to stabbing 33-year old Kathryn Linaker to death at her Haydock home while the victim’s four-month-old baby lay nearby, had sought to reduce the 13-year minimum term she must serve before she becomes eligible for early release.

However, High Court judge Mr Justice Gross ruled on Wednesday that fresh psychological and psychiatric evidence and Cupit’s progress in prison were not enough to justify lowering the minimum term she must serve.

Taking into account time she served on remand prior to sentencing, Cupit will now become eligible for parole in late 2011.

The court had been told that Cupit began an affair with the victim’s husband, Chris Linaker, at Centenary amateur dramatic society, and attacked Mrs Linaker out of lust for him and envy of her ability to combine motherhood with a teaching career.

Her lawyers said she had made ‘exceptional progress’ while in custody.

However, declining to reduce the minimum term, Justice Gross said: “On the available material, the trial Judge was amply justified in saying that this was ‘a dreadful killing of an innocent and undoubtedly talented woman and a mother of two children’.” “For my part, while (and it is welcome) the applicant appears to have made good progress in custody, such progress is not ‘exceptional’. It follows that reliance on her progress in custody does not impact on the setting of the minimum term.

“In this case, the seriousness of the offence decisively outweighs any considerations relating to the applicant’s progress in custody.”