A MAN has been jailed for seven years and five months for breaking into his former partner’s home and threatening to kill her.

Keith Wright, 58, of Bentley Court, Keighley, was sentenced at Bradford Crown Court after pleading guilty to aggravated burglary with intent to inflict grievous bodily harm following the incident on November 2 last year.

The Crown prosecutor told the judge, His Honour Colin Burn, that Wright “forced his way” into the home of his former partner in Oakworth, with a lump hammer and kitchen knife in hand.

The court heard that, after using a hammer to break a patio window, he then went upstairs to her bedroom, where the woman was asleep. His former partner said she was awakened when she felt someone “pushing her face” and she saw him stood over her in bed holding a large kitchen knife and a hammer.

Wright said to her “You b****, for ignoring me I’m going to kill you”.

She struggled with him and managed to get the knife out of his hand and put it under the duvet. He picked the knife back up and went downstairs into the kitchen and she was able to “show real fortitude and strength” to regain her composure and ring 999.

She kept the phone behind her back and she told him to “get down on the floor”, to which he replied “I love it when you order me about”.

Once he realised she had rung police, the court was told he said: “F*** it, I might as well kill you”. She said she “feared for her life” and the defendant could be heard shouting on the 999 call, which lasted just under 11 minutes.

When officers PC Staniland and PC Whiting arrived at the house the court was told that Wright approached and raised an open wine bottle towards the neck of PC Staniland.

Wright, who was too close for PC Staniland to deploy a Taser, kicked the officer in the abdomen. The two officers then pinned him down and when he continued to struggle he was subdued by pepper spray.

The court heard how the pair had been in a relationship for six years, but that it had ended. It was said that “he struggled to come to terms with the ending of the relationship”.

The court also heard that Wright was drunk during the incident.

In an interview with police, Wright said he “had been thinking about wanting to kill her for a few days because he didn’t want anyone else to have her”.

The victim “did not think she would ever feel safe again,” the court heard.

She was having trouble sleeping, had felt physically sick, had been short tempered with family and friends and did not want to return to the property where it happened.

Judge Burn said: “The circumstances could hardly be more serious. In the end, you did not go through with your plan to kill her or cause grievous bodily harm with a hammer and a wicked-looking knife. I accept you realised how terrified she was when she saw you telling her you were going to kill her, but you still maintained a tense and traumatic atmosphere."

Judge Burn said an 11-year sentence was a starting point, but this was reduced by a third for Wright’s guilty plea in magistrates court, and so he jailed Wright for seven years and five months. Wright got a four-month concurrent sentence for his assault on a police officer.