A terrified woman bravely tried to fight off a brutal attacker as he chillingly told her: “Die, die, die.”

Natalie Clark blacked out as her former partner John Murray Hudson Kirkbride tried to smother her after gaining entry to

her home despite a restraining order.

Heavily tattooed Kirkbride, 32, who was banned from contacting his ex at the time, admitted assaulting Miss Clark on December 9 when he appeared at Carlisle Crown Court.

He also pleaded guilty to breaching the restraining order and causing £1,200 damage to a Maryport supermarket window.

Claire Brocklebank, prosecuting, said the restraining order was imposed in October, 2014 for an indefinite period, after an earlier assault on his ex-partner.

But in December last year he made an unannounced visit to Miss Clark, slipping in through an unlocked door.

He approached her, clamping his hand over her mouth and nose despite her desperate efforts to fight him off.

Kirkbride uttered, Miss Brocklebank told the court: “If I can’t have you, no-one can. Die, die, die.

“She tried to fight him off. She estimates this attempt to fight him off lasted up to 30 minutes. At some stage she lost consciousness.”

Miss Clark was roused by her teenage son, and Miss Brocklebank added: “The defendant had gone. Baubles from the Christmas tree had been smashed around her.”

She suffered a lump on her head along with multiple injuries to her face and neck. She was sick several times that night and later received hospital treatment.

Having left her property, Kirkbride broke the supermarket window – damage captured by a CCTV camera.

In interview he admitted going to Miss Clark’s house in breach of the restraining order. He denied deliberately putting his hand over her nose.

The court heard Kirkbride had 25 convictions for 43 criminal offences, and had initially been arrested on suspicion of attempting to murder his former partner.

Lucy Wright, defending, said: “He is disappointed and disgusted with his behaviour towards Natalie Clark.

“He accepts this is a relationship that must be over and can never be resumed; it has been irreparably damaged by the harm and the hurt and the offences.”

Kirkbride, of Towncroft, Dearham, was jailed for 21 months by Judge Barbara Forrester. “It was a very serious assault that took place over a considerable period of time in the victim’s own home at night,” the judge told him.

“She must have been absolutely terrified by what was going on.”