A Carlisle man who carried out a brutal and sustained attack on his partner has been jailed for 10 years.

Over a period of several hours in April, John Thomas Allan slashed Kay Irving with a Stanley knife and smashed her over the head with a vodka bottle.

Allan - drunk and drug-fuelled - also punched Ms Irving and leapt feet-first on her back after kicking her legs from under her.

Carlisle Crown Court was told how she desperately barricaded herself into a room during the ordeal. Neighbours heard her screams for help and called police.

Ms Irving was said to have injuries on "virtually every part of her body", and told officers 33-year-old Allan behaved "like an animal".

He admitted wounding Ms Irving with intent to cause grievous bodily harm, and was jailed today by Judge Peter Hughes QC.

Allan will be considered for parole only after serving two-thirds of his sentence, and is subject to an extended four-year licence period. He was also banned from contacting his victim indefinitely.

Judge Hughes said Allan, of Millholme Avenue, Currock, "could have killed" Ms Irving, and told him: "I have rarely encountered such appalling domestic violence."