A MAN who slashed the throat of a neighbour he believed had burgled his home was jailed yesterday for eight years after being found guilty of attempted murder.

The verdict was welcomed by the victim's family and by police, who last night issued a warning to people about taking the law into their own hands.

Craig Beddow, 23, needed 27 pints of blood after being slashed across the neck five times and on his chest once with what prosecutors believe was a craft knife.

A jury at Teesside Crown Court heard how his jugular was severed, his carotid artery was exposed, his vocal cord was cut and his lungs collapsed.

He had to be continually resuscitated, was given the last rites by the hospital chaplain, and was kept alive by a ventilator for four days before spending a month in intensive care.

Mr Beddow will be scarred for life and still suffers nightmares.

In a written statement given to the court yesterday, he said: "My whole life has been ruined."

The attack happened on the doorstep of his home in Jutland Road, Hartlepool, after midnight on July 16 last year - two months after Paul Ryan's home, in nearby Seaton Lane, had been burgled.

Ryan, 37, claimed he was at home at the time of the assault and that the victim was either lying about the identity of the knifeman or was mistaken.

The jury took four hours to reach a majority 11-1 verdict, which was met with gasps from the packed public gallery.

Ryan's wife, Tracey, and daughter Vicky, 19, sobbed while the defendant showed little emotion as the Recorder of Middlesbrough, Judge Peter Fox, sentenced him.

Judge Fox said: "The jury has found you guilty of attempting to kill Craig Beddow.

"You did not succeed in your endeavour but you have left a young man devastated psychologically and physically."

Mr Beddow's mother, Denise, 43, who had sat through the seven-day trial, said afterwards: "I am just glad that the truth has come out and everyone knows it.

"I am not bothered about the sentence, all I wanted was a guilty verdict."