TO celebrate passing an interview to join the Army, a man went on a drinking spree which led to a 'horrifying' knife-point sex attack on a lone woman, a court heard.

Jamie Jones had drunk 13 pints after realising his long-term ambition to become a soldier, Bradford Crown Court was told yesterday.

He attacked the 21-year-old woman as she walked home on Manchester Road, Bradford, last September - squeezing her throat and threatening to cut her with a knife.

The court heard the victim had been left anxious and unable to sleep.

Jones, 20, of Wyke Crescent, Wyke was jailed for four years and eight months after pleading guilty to sexual assault and possessing an offensive weapon. He was put on the sex offenders' register for life.

Prosecuting, Mark McKone said Jones pounced on the woman as she turned into an alley, grabbed her and squeezed her throat. She fell face down and he fell on top of her. The woman told police: "My breath stopped and it all went blank."

Jones took a penknife from a bag and said he would 'cut her'. The woman pleaded with him not to hurt her and when she screamed he said he would 'chop her'.

She tried being friendly and he calmed down, said Mr McKone, but kept hold of her neck and then sexually assaulted her.

People heard her screams and came to the rescue, seeing Jones pinning her against a wall.

In a victim statement, the woman said Jones had taken something personal from her and the attack had affected her confidence and social life. She also suffered from flashbacks.

Defending, Nicholas Johnson said the case had troubling features but that Jones had not tried to rape the woman.

"He had found out he had been accepted to join the Army, fulfilling a long-term ambition," said Mr Johnson. "He went out to celebrate and drank far too much. It was in that state he committed the offence.

"It was a spur of the moment thing."

Mr Johnson said Jones came from a stable background and had recently become a father. The offence was out of character.

"He is disgusted with his behaviour," said Mr Johnson.

Sentencing, Recorder Neil Davey QC said: "This was a horrifying attack on a young woman who has been damaged by what you did to her. It began with you getting badly drunk. You spied your victim and decided to attack. One can only imagine how frightened she was.

"You could have stopped, but chose to carry on and hurt her. Mercifully, pedestrians heard her screams and came to the rescue. But she has been damaged emotionally, physically and socially."

The Recorder accepted Jones' remorse was genuine and that what happened was out of character. "And you were only 19 at the time," he said.

"But it was a persistent and sustained attack and only broken up by the intervention of passers-by, not because you abandoned the attack."