A DRUNKEN knifeman has been jailed for smashing his way into his ex-partner’s Dawlish home and subjecting her to a terrifying attack in which he threatened to kill her.

Jayson Ross held the 11 inch bread knife against the face and throat of the young mother as she clutched her six-month baby in her arms to try to protect it.

He told her he was going to cut her and kill her and left her with injuries to her cheek and finger after dragging her to the floor of the landing in her Dawlish home and pinning her down.

She escaped by kicking him away twice and fleeing the house with her child through the shattered remains of her front door.

She was given refuge by brave neighbours who stopped Ross getting at her and her baby.

He had been drinking all day at a friend’s wedding before returning to his mother’s home where he picked up the serrated knife and ran out telling her ‘They’re not going to get away with this’.

He woke his ex-partner by hammering on her door at 2.30 am as he shouted ‘I’m going to ****ing kill you, I’m going to cut you’.

He then smashed in the door and ran upstairs brandishing the knife.

The victim was trying to call the police when he grabbed her and threw her to the floor with her child still in her arms.

He was still uttering threats and she believed he was about to kill her.

Ross, aged 33, of Oak Hill, Dawlish, admitted assault causing actual bodily harm, possession of a knife and making threats to kill and was jailed for two years and six months by Judge David Evans at Exeter Crown Court.

He told him: ‘You were clearly very angry and out of control. You smashed your way through the front door and ran up the stairs towards your ex. One can only imagine the fear she felt as you approached her with that blade in your hand.

‘You pulled her to the flood and held her head there and threatened to kill her. In that situation, and at that moment, it is entirely understandable that she feared you would do so.

‘These offences are classified as domestic abuse, which makes them more rather than less serious.’

The judge made a ten year restraining order which forbids further contact with the victim.

Miss Felicity Payne, prosecuting, said the attack happened in the early hours of May 15 this year and have left the victim with severe psychological trauma.

She said: ‘It was a truly harrowing situation which left her very shaken and upset. She was vulnerable because she was at home on her own in the early hours and acted very courageously to protect herself and her child.’

Mr Lee Bremridge, defending, said Ross was suffering from depression and anxiety after the break up of his relationship and was on medication with combined badly with the alcohol he drank at the wedding.

He said he has turned his life around in the four months since he has been remanded in custody and has done well on a behavioural change course. He is unlikely to reoffend after his release.