A jilted boyfriend who bludgeoned his love rival with an axe and left him for dead was today beginning a six-year prison sentence.

James Tetley "rained down blows" on the victim's head with the hatchet as his horrified partner looked on, Bradford Crown Court heard.

Amazingly, John Topham lived through the ordeal but still bears horrendous physical and mental scars.

Sean Morris, prosecuting, told how 41-year-old Tetley could not cope with being dumped by his first ever girlfriend, Hazel Smith, and began a campaign of harassment against her.

He said Mrs Smith, 52, took out a civil injunction against Tetley but added: "He was clearly infatuated or besotted with her."

Mr Morris said Tetley had always lived with his mother and that on one evening, a window of their home in Montserrat Road, Tong Street, was smashed.

He went to Mrs Smith's house in Toftshaw Lane and hurled a stone through a window.

When Mr Topham went outside, Tetley hacked repeatedly at his head and body with the hatchet shouting: "Take some more of the same."

Mr Topham was left with a fractured skull and serious wounds to his face, forehead and all over his body.

A medical expert said the head blow "could have easily killed him if it has only been a few centimetres differently placed".

Tetley had originally denied a charge of attempted murder but this was dropped when he admitted a lesser offence of wounding.

Timothy Stead, for Tetley, described him as "psychiatrically vulnerable" highlighting a history of depression and heavy drinking.

He stressed that Mrs Smith had been his first girlfriend and added that he "completely lost control of himself" after the split.

After the case, Mr Topham said: "I don't feel justice has been done here.

"He brought this weapon out with him, attacked me and then left me for dead.

"I will never forgive him for what has happened. He has ruined Hazel's life.

"The whole thing has left my very jumpy and I think about it every day. If the security light goes off outside the house I freeze for a moment. It's always there with you."

Mrs Smith said: "When I met him he seemed like a nice person but he soon became very possessive and jealous."

After the split she said he repeatedly damaged her garden and car and even put glue in the locks.

"When he was hitting John with the axe I thought there was no way he was going to live. It was absolutely terrifying.

"Even though Tetley is locked up I still worry about him. There is going to be a time when he will be back out on the streets again.

"While he is free to roam the streets I will never feel safe. I will never be carefree again in my life.

"I have already put my house up for sale once and I want to be out of the area before he gets out."

Mr Topham added: "This is not over. He will come looking for us when he is back on the streets."

Detective Constable Colman Coyne said: "If the axe had have been sharper, there is little doubt that Mr Topham would have died. One wound was extremely close to a main artery and he is very lucky to be alive.

"They now have to rebuild their lives together but this could well mean moving out of the area because they are so terrified of him."