SOLDIER SLITS FIANCEE THROAT BECAUSE SHE DUMPED HIM

• Jason Hughes, 40, tried to smother Natalie Allman, 26, with a pillow
• He then bludgeoned her and slashed a 20cm-long cut on her throat
• Hughes, from, Ross-on-Wye, Herefordshire, was jailed for nine years

A Territorial Army soldier who battered his fiancee with a dumb-bell before slashing her across the throat because he wanted to make her look 'ugly' after she dumped him has been jailed.

Jason Hughes, 40, launched a terrifying seven hour attack on Natalie Allman, 26, as she lay in bed after she ended their relationship.

Despite agreeing to separate, Hughes tried to smother her with a pillow before repeatedly bludgeoning her with a dumb bell.

Battered by her ex boyfriend: Natalie Allman, 26, a week after she was attacked by partner Jason Hughes

He then used the blade from a mini-tool to slash a 20cm-long cut across her throat - narrowly missing her major artery by a few millimetres.

After the brutal attack at the couple's home in Ross-on-Wye, Herefordshire, on February 3 this year, Hughes refused to call an ambulance for seven hours.

The couple's terrified two-year-old twin sons who witnessed the attack got into bed with their mother and were covered in her blood when they were discovered by officers.

When Hughes - who was in the Territorial Army and had received training with bayonets and knives - finally let Natalie call an ambulance she had suffered eight wounds to her head and five fractures to her face bones.

Hughes was jailed for nine years after he was convicted of malicious wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm at Worcester Crown Court on August 2.

Defending Hughes, Abigail Nixon said if Hughes had intended to kill Natalie then he could have done so because of his military training.

Happier times: Natalie Allman and her ex partner Jason Hughes, who battered his fiance with a dumb-bell before slashing her across the throat

Natalie with her two boys from the relationship Timmy (left) and Ethan Hughes

Despite agreeing to separate, Hughes used the blade from a mini-tool to slash a 20cm-long cut across Natalie's throat narrowly missing her major artery by a few millimetres

She told the court: 'His intention was to cause a hideous scar she could not hide if she had dressed up to look pretty.

'He was trying to make her look ugly to other men.'

Natalie, a care worker, had agreed to split with Hughes last December but continued to share a home while he found a new place to live.

Natalie told the court how she had woken up to find Hughes sitting astride her hitting her with a dumb-bell.

When she was allowed to dial 999 she was rushed to Hereford Hospital and Hughes was arrested by officers at the scene.

Natalie Allman, from Herefordshire, shows the scars on her neck left by her ex partner Jason Hughes

Natalie, who needed cosmetic surgery to rebuild her throat, said today: 'He was shouting at me the whole night long "I'm going to kill you".

'I was trying to stop him every way I could. At one point I just lay still and I think he thought I was dead so that's why he stopped.

'It started at midnight and he let me go downstairs at about 7am. He said when it gets light I could call paramedics. He hid my mobile phone all night, I kept trying to find it.

'There were three attacks, at midnight, 3am and 6am. He tried to suffocate me with the pillow all three times.

'At midnight I woke up and he was over me with one leg either side punching me. I thought it was with his fists but I later found out it was with a weight. It was pitch black in the room.

'I don't know if I fell asleep or was going unconscious but at 3am I woke up and needed the toilet. He told me to go in the bed and then frog-marched me to the toilet.

'I remember him sitting me down on the bed and that's when he slashed my throat. I don't know what happened then, I might've just passed out.

'One of our sons Ethan woke up and came into our bed with me. He was covered in my blood.'

Natalie told how she was forced to call their wedding off after he began drinking heavily.

She added: 'We were due to get married on February 11 but we had split up in December because I was fed up of his drinking.

'At times he could drink one litre of vodka or three litres of cider in one day.

'I was moving out the following week which he knew. He tried to make up that I had said I wouldn't let him see the children but I never said that.

'Social services told me he will never be allowed to see the children but I'm not looking forward to him coming out in four years when he is eligible for parole.'