A JEALOUS boyfriend subjected his partner to terrifying violence, strangling her and repeatedly attacking her with nail-scissors.

When his blood-covered victim blacked out at her Carlisle home and then regained consciousness, she told 41-year-old David Neil Parkin that she feared he was going to kill her, prompting him to reply: "I know I'm going to kill you."

The woman - whose young daughter witnessed the aftermath of the assault - later told police: "He was evil, emotionless, with no care in the world, and out of control."

At Carlisle Crown Court, the defendant, of School Road, Harraby, admitted an actual bodily harm assault.

Prosecutor Gerard Rogerson outlined how Parkin had become paranoid, and preoccupied with a fear that the woman, from the Harraby area of Carlisle, had been talking to other men.

She assured him she had not cheated on him. On September 18, he stormed out of her home after they talked about his concerns.

But at 1am the following morning, he returned, got into her bed, and then attacked her, said Mr Rogerson.

First, he pinned her to the bed, and then grabbed her by the throat.

"She was struggling to breathe," said Mr Rogerson. He told her: "I'm going to show you who you are mugging off."

Terrified, she protested her innocence, saying she had done nothing wrong.

As he continued hitting her, she noticed there was a blade protruding from between his knuckles, and realised it was a pair of nail scissors.

"The blows she received were painful," said Mr Rogerson, describing how the woman felt blood on her neck.

It was at this point he told her he meant to kill her. The lawyer said: "He kept squeezing till she felt herself giving up, and drifting into sleep.

"She then slumped to the ground." The woman had blacked out. It was at this point, as the woman was recovering consciousness, that the defendant then seemed to come to his senses, telling the woman: "I love you; I'm sorry. I don't know why I did it."

After dialling 999, he told the call-handler: "I've just stabbed my missus. Just get the police and an ambulance, please.  I'm going nowhere; I have no weapon. I'm an absolute idiot."

The woman's daughter tried to staunch her mother's blood.

Later, Parkin told the girl he had mental health problems, prompting the youngster to say: "You can't blame that on mental health."

In her victim impact statement, the woman spoke of how the attack had traumatised her.

Left suffering flashbacks, and scarred, she had been unable to return to the Harraby home where she had lived for more than a decade. "He's destroyed the life I once had," said the woman, now Parkin's ex-partner.

Her blood soaked bed had to be disposed of and she was unable to return to the home where she and her daughter had lived throughout the child's life.

Jane Foley, for Parkin, said he had been the one to call an ambulance.

"He doesn't have a history of violence," said the barrister, pointing out that Parkin had beaten a drug problem a decade earlier and worked to help steer young people away from the mistakes he had once made.

"He's been remorseful ever since this incident occurred," she added.

Judge Julie Clemitson told the defendant: "This offence arose out of jealousy."

She said what happened had been a sustained attack, committed in a blind fury, on his vulnerable, half-asleep partner.

"No doubt, it left her feeling utterly terrified."

Rejecting the option of a suspended jail term, the judge said: "This case is not just about you. I must also bear in mind the other side of the coin; whether or not the appropriate punishment can be achieved if you are not sentenced to immediate custody.

"The seriousness of this offence, and the ongoing impact on [the victim] is so significant that it can't be marked anything other than an immediate custodial sentence."

She jailed Parkin for 18 months.

The judge also banned the defendant from contacting his victim for the next five years.