Polish man tries to bury wife alive

The shallow grave from which Michelina Lewandowska escaped after being tasered put in a box and buried alive. Photo / Supplied

A Polish man has been jailed for 20 years in Britain for trying to kill his girlfriend by burying her alive, in what the judge said would have been a "long and slow" death.

Marcin Kasprzak, 26, attacked Michelina Lewandowska, 27, with a Taser stun gun at their home in Huddersfield, northern England, on May 28 last year before binding and gagging her and burying her in a box in nearby woodland.

Lewandowska, who is also Polish and the mother of Kasprzak's child, only escaped after cutting herself free with her engagement ring.

She dug herself out of the shallow grave, which was covered in earth and a tree branch, and flagged down a passing motorist.

Judge Peter Collier said Kasprzak's actions represented a "planned attempt to kill", as he sentenced him to 20 years for attempted murder at Leeds Crown Court in northern England.

"It was your intention that she should not be found and it was your intention that she would die there," the judge said on Friday.

"The death you intended would have been long and slow. It is mind-numbingly awful to imagine the sort of death you intended her to die."

Kasprzak's friend, Patryk Borys, 18, who was found guilty of helping kidnap Lewandowska but was cleared of attempted murder by a jury in December, was sentenced to four-and-a-half years.

"I must have regard to the uniquely chilling nature of this case. As I have already observed, being buried alive must be one of the most dreadful ways to die that anyone can imagine," the judge said.

He said the plan to murder arose from a dispute over the couple's two-year-old son.

"The problem you faced was that she would not go willingly and leave your child with you and your mother. So it was that you formed a plan to get rid of her," the judge said.

He told the defendant it was Lewandowska's "raw determination to survive for the sake of your son" that saved her life, adding that she continued to suffer "significant" psychological harm.

Both men were told they would serve half their sentences before being released on licence.

- AAP