A 43-year-old woman had to have her face rebuilt using 10 plates and a mesh after her son launched an horrific attack on her, a Court heard.

Janet Spencer underwent seven hours of surgery and was transferred to the intensive care unit at Bradford Royal Infirmary following the shocking beating at the hands of her son Daniel.

He was yesterday jailed for seven years.

Bradford Crown Court heard that tensions developed in the family home at Airedale Avenue, Cottingley, Bingley, after Spencer lost his job as a chef in London and returned to West Yorkshire.

Prosecutor Jonathan Gibson said the tensions related to Spencer's friends at the time, money matters and the fact that he had been unable to hold down another job.

The 22-year-old, who had no previous convictions, later told police he had "snapped'' in July last year when he used a heavy wrench and a large kitchen knife to inflict appalling injuries on his mother, who was separated from her husband.

He described himself as being "in a dreamworld'' and claimed it was the fact that his mother wouldn't stay down which caused him to hit her repeatedly.

The court heard that Spencer had been involved in a minor argument with his 18-year-old brother Christopher that night and he told officers he wanted to knock his mum out so he could beat up his brother.

While Mrs Spencer was smoking a cigarette and drinking coffee in bed, her eldest son suddenly rushed in and without warning hit her over the head with a wrench.

"She jumped out of bed and ran to the other bedroom where Christopher was asleep in the top bunk,'' he told the court.

"He was woken by his mother's screams and saw her rush into the bedroom followed by the defendant who was holding the wrench.''

Spencer repeatedly hit his mother over the head with the wrench despite her attempts to protect herself.

Christopher tried to take hold of his brother from the top bunk, but he turned his attentions on him and tried to hit him with another tool he had hidden in the bedroom.

The attack continued and Mrs Spencer was stabbed in the face, chest and neck.

Christopher's left arm was also cut by the knife and after his brother left the house he used some shelving and a desk to barricade the bedroom door.

Neighbours raised the alarm as Spencer fled in his mother's car. He later discarded a bloodstained top at a motorway service station on his way to London.

He was arrested the next day wandering round Oxford Street and brought back for questioning at Keighley police station.

Mr Gibson said Mrs Spencer was treated for multiple lacerations and fractures, including a fractured skull, and doctors believed she was fortunate to survive the attack.

Her condition deteriorated while in the ICU and she had to undergo a tracheostomy. She was discharged from hospital after three weeks, but Mr Gibson said she had suffered significant cosmetic damage, including scarring.

Spencer had faced attempted murder charges, but his guilty pleas to inflicting grievous bodily harm on his mother and brother with intent were accepted by the Crown Prosecution Service at a hearing last month.

Barrister Nicholas Askins, for Spencer, said a psychiatrist had assessed him as posing no risk to the public in general and a low risk in terms of reoffending within his own family.

Mr Askins stressed that his client had no history of violence and was genuinely horrified at what he had done.

He said Spencer was said to be immature and a possible explanation for his actions were the tensions in the house and his mother's suggestion that he would have to get a job or leave.

The Honorary Recorder of Bradford, Judge Stephen Gullick, told Spencer he had planned and carried out an horrendous and sustained attack, principally on his mother.

"It is clear she will have the scars of what happened that night... for the rest of her life.''