A terrified woman bravely tried to fight off a brutal attacker as he chillingly told her: “Die, die, die.”

Natalie Clark blacked out as her former partner John Murray Hudson Kirkbride tried to smother her after gaining entry to her home despite a restraining order.

Heavily tattooed Kirkbride, 32, admitted assaulting Miss Clark on December 9 when he appeared at Carlisle Crown Court. He also pleaded guilty to breaching the restraining order and causing £1,200 damage to a Maryport supermarket window.

Claire Brocklebank, prosecuting, said the order was imposed in 2014 for an indefinite period after an earlier assault.

But in December last year he got in to Miss Clark’s through an unlocked door. He clamped his hand over her mouth and nose, despite her efforts to fight him off, and said: “If I can’t have you, no-one can. Die, die, die.”

“She tried to fight him off,” said Miss Brocklebank. “She estimates this lasted up to 30 minutes. At some stage she lost consciousness.”

Miss Clark was roused by her teenage son and Miss Brocklebank added: “The defendant had gone. Baubles from the Christmas tree had been smashed around her.”

She suffered a lump on her head and injuries to her face and neck and was treated in hospital.

Having left her property, Kirkbride broke the supermarket window. In interview he admitted going to Miss Clark’s house in breach of the restraining order. He denied deliberately putting his hand over her nose.

The court heard Kirkbride had 25 convictions for 43 criminal offences and had initially been arrested on suspicion of attempting to murder his former partner.

Lucy Wright, defending, said: “He is disappointed and disgusted with his behaviour.”

Kirkbride, of Towncroft, Dearham, was jailed for 21 months by Judge Barbara Forrester. “It was a very serious assault that took place over a considerable period of time in the victim’s own home at night,” the judge told him. “She must have been absolutely terrified.”