A FORMER soldier who knifed his Brit girlfriend 30 times in a horrific killing in Lapland has had his conviction overturned, it is reported.

Karel Frybl was convicted of murder earlier this year for repeatedly stabbing Scottish tour guide Rebecca Johnson, 26, in a "frenzied attack".

But Finnish judges have now accepted the "cruel and evil" killer's appeal and he will only serve 11 years for homicide instead of a life sentence for murder.

Under Finnish law, this means judges did not believe the former Czech soldier's attack was premeditated or particularly cruel, The Daily Record reported.

Rebecca, from Burntisland, Fife, was working as a husky sled guide alongside Frybl in the country's remote Lapland region.

Rebecca travelled to Finland with then-boyfriend Frybl in 2016 to work for festive trip firm Santa Safari.

She started dating the former squaddie in October 2015 but the relationship turned sour because of his “verbal and physical abuse”.

Pals who knew the couple, inset, said they feared for Rebecca long before Frybl, who also used the name Radek Kovac, long before he killed her in Kuttanen village.

During his trial in February, scheming Frybl had tried to claim he had attacked ex-lover Rebecca, 26, in self defence after she stabbed him first.

But a judge ruled the tragic Lapland tour guide, from Fife, had been the victim of a “very cruel, extremely violent and cold-blooded act”.

A court source said: “Frybl cut a pathetic figure and never had the guts to show his face.”

The killer sat in silence just yards from where Rebecca’s grieving mum Anne, 61, broke down in tears as details of her daughter’s final moments were revealed.

Rebecca’s dad Henry, also 61, and two other relatives — thought to be sister Victoria, 30, and brother Scott, 40 — were also in court.

Brutal Frybl turned on Rebecca in their remote winter cabin after the estranged couple had spent the night apart.

He attacked her with a four-inch knife and continued the savage assault as she lay helpless on the ground.

Rebecca suffered ten wounds to her chest as well as another 30 injuries.

Judge Esko Hohti told Lapland District Court in Rovaniemi: “Ms Johnson’s death was caused by stab wounds to the chest and the sides and related penetration of chambers of the heart and the lungs.”

He added: “This homicide was conducted in a very cruel way with clear instinct and intention to kill.”

Terrified Rebecca had called colleague Caitlin Howard moments before the fatal attack.

Caitlin, from Oxford, said she sounded “scared and upset” — then heard her friend screaming for her life.

She said: “There were screams — just scream, scream, screams. After that the line went dead. She sounded like she was in trouble.”

Frybl was caught red-handed by Rebecca’s co-worker Joseph Pickles, who walked in on the attack.

He described seeing the former Czech soldier covered in blood and standing over his stricken victim as she lay dying in their cabin.

Frybl fled the scene into snow-covered woods with his dogs where he stabbed himself to make it look like he was a victim.

He was found five hours later in -35°C conditions suffering from hypothermia and two wounds to his stomach.

Frybl claimed the killing was not murder because Rebecca had attacked him first.