A MAN who terrorised his partner with a zombie knife during a brutal attack at her home has been jailed after ‘dog cam’ footage helped police to bring a victimless prosecution.

Anthony Murgatroyd had set up a motion-sensor camera in the living room of the victim’s home in Cross Green, Leeds, to find out which dog was chewing the furniture.

But when he launched a terrifying attack on the woman on November 5, sparked by an argument about him seeing sex workers, the camera triggered and captured footage that gave specialist domestic abuse officers vital evidence.

During the incident Murgatroyd dragged the victim into the street and was seen hitting her.

She escaped back into the living room, but Murgatroyd followed before hitting her about the head and pulling her by her hair.

He grabbed a zombie knife from the floor and lunged at her with the blade before pushing it towards her face and then making stabbing and slashing motions to her body.

He put the knife behind the sofa, where a large dog could be seen cowering in distress, and pulled a screwdriver from his jogging bottoms and shoved it at the victim’s face.

He then put the weapon away before hitting her again.

He then handed her a beer bottle and shouted at her to open it with her teeth, which she did. He also asked her to touch the zombie knife.

The footage showed the victim clearly terrified throughout the ordeal.

She eventually managed to escape from the address and ran to get help from neighbours and police were alerted.

Officers traced 38-year-old Murgatroyd to his address on Waverley Garth, Beeston, and arrested him in a violent struggle where incapacitant spray had to be used and a taser drawn.

When officers spoke to the victim, she was still in fear of the suspect and felt unable to support a prosecution.

Footage was recovered from the ‘dog cam’ which gave a detailed illustration of Murgatroyd’s actions.

Murgatroyd was charged with assault occasioning actual bodily harm and possession in private of a zombie knife.

The victim was revisited and felt confident enough to provide a victim personal statement.

Murgatroyd pleaded guilty to both offences when he appeared at court on November 7. He received a 20-month sentence at Leeds Crown Court today, which included a previous domestic-related assault in August.

Detective Superintendent Lee Berry, Head of Crime & Safeguarding for Leeds District, said: “We are committed to doing everything we can to tackle violence against women and girls and we take all reports of domestic abuse seriously and use all available means to bring offenders to justice.

“Our specialist domestic abuse officers will always support victims with the aim of giving them the confidence to provide statements and support prosecutions against violent partners but, where this isn’t possible, we will other look at other ways of taking action against offenders and keeping victims safe, as we have in this case through some fantastic work by PC Chloe Fennell on the Domestic Abuse Team.”