A WOMAN thought she was going to be killed when she was the victim of a sustained attack by her jealous partner.

David Mark Shearer, who had been drinking heavily, returned home agitated and turned on the terrified woman, accusing her of having an affair.

Durham Crown Court heard he repeatedly punched the woman, before pointing a knife at her face and then slashing her arm and finger.

A neighbour tried to intervene and was thrown out by Shearer, who barricaded the door and released his dogs, including an alsatian.

Jennifer Haigh, prosecuting, said he armed himself with several kitchen knives, as police approached the house in Leadgate, near Consett.

"He said he would kill her, and she believed him," said Miss Haigh.

"When police arrived, he wouldn't let them in and he became more agitated and aggressive."

Miss Haigh said trained police negotiators and Shearer's mother unsuccessfully urged him to come out, before the officers forced their way in.

They confronted Shearer, who dropped a large knife he was holding at the third request.

He was arrested, while his partner was taken to hospital for stitches to her arm and surgery for a broken finger.

Miss Haigh said four children were upstairs, three asleep, although the oldest, an eight-year-old boy, was shaking and very distressed.

When questioned, Shearer admitted that, while he was in "a blind rage", he armed himself with knives and punched the woman.

She described it as, "the worst experience of my life", added Miss Haigh.

Shearer, 34, of Eden Avenue, Leadgate, who had no previous offences for violence, admitted wounding.

Jane Waugh, mitigating, said Shearer had been in custody since the incident, on May 15, and the victim had taken out a non-molestation order against him.

"He's aware their relationship is at an end and she now has the protection of the courts," she said.

Miss Waugh described Shearer as, "an anxious individual", who has suffered depression for some time.

"It was triggered by his insistence, whether or not true, that she was unfaithful to him during the course of their relationship," she said.

Jailing him for two years, Judge Richard Lowden told Shearer that, whatever the truth of the situation, it did not excuse such behaviour.