A SCHIZOPHRENIC who’d failed to take medication and talked about “demons” inside him had launched a vicious attack on his partner, a court heard on Friday.

Caernarfon crown court was told hysterical Zoe Livesey had thought she was going to die and had no shoes when police found her following a 999 call last month.

She had been jumped upon while in bed in a guest house at Caernarfon where she lived at the time, and later found by officers in a pedestrian tunnel nearby.

Prosecuting counsel Matthew Curtis said James McKenna, 34 - who was jailed for 20 months - had spat at Miss Livesey, punched her repeatedly, hit her with a metal pole, and strangled her with his hand around the throat.

Mr Curtis said a dog was punched and scissors had been held to the young woman’s throat. She had black eyes, a bruised neck and extreme pain.

When police saw McKenna he “snarled like a dog” and continued to be aggressive in custody.

Recorder Wyn Lloyd Jones made a five-year restraining order banning contact with the victim.

The judge told McKenna, of no fixed address, who pleaded guilty to assault causing actual bodily harm :”This was a vicious attack. It was deliberate and determined.

“It must have been terrifying.” He said the defendant had a bad record and in 2015 was dealt with for assaulting the same victim.

Defence barrister Anna Price said McKenna had mental health issues but was aware immediate custody was inevitable. He had no memory of the events after failing to take his medication.

McKenna considered himself a usually “kind” man. ENDS