A jealous thug who subjected his girlfriend to a “sadistic” attack with a claw hammer after breaking in through her bedroom window has been jailed indefinitely.

Bradford Crown Court heard yesterday victim Kirsty Foster, 23, was sleeping in a bed with her grandma on March 3 because she was “terrified” of Gary Walsh, 35, who had been released on bail by magistrates after being charged with assaulting her just days earlier.

He believed she had been seeing other men, an accusation she denied.

During the night, while Miss Foster and her grandmother were in bed, Walsh, of Alcester Garth, Pollard Park, broke into her bedroom through its window armed with the hammer.

Miss Foster’s grandmother, Elizabeth Foster, managed to flee and call the police but Walsh hit his young partner several times with the hammer, striking her on the back of the head as she lay face down on the bed.

Prosecutor Michael Greenhalgh told the court Miss Foster suffers from Post-traumatic Stress Disorder, has problems sleeping and no longer lives on her own. She needed 13 stitches to her head and still suffers from headaches.

Mr Greenhalgh told the court: “She has moved back in with her mother because she is frightened on her own.”

There were gasps from the public gallery as Walsh’s barrister Richard Gioserano told the court the defendant said he was “sorry”.

Walsh, whose criminal record dates back to the 1980s, has had 32 convictions for 160 offences, several of which involved violence.

He pleaded guilty to wounding with intent and was given a ten-year prison sentence for the public’s protection by Judge Jonathan Durham Hall QC and must serve a minimum of five years before he could be considered for parole.

He was given a three-year sentence to run concurrently for causing actual bodily harm to Miss Foster after the earlier assault on February 28.

Judge Durham Hall QC said: “Whether through your addiction to drugs or your innate wickedness, it matters not. The conclusion this court must draw is that you pose a particular risk to those with whom you are in relationship, the clearest and most present risk.”

Speaking after the hearing Miss Foster told the Telegraph & Argus: “I am pleased with the sentence.

“It has affected me really badly for this last year. I’m trying to get my life back on track and move on.

“I think it’ll get better now I know he is locked up. I don’t sleep in my bedroom any more because that is where he came in.”

DC Rob Hadaway of Airedale and North Bradford CID, said: “We are very pleased with sentence handed to Walsh today by the Courts which reflects the seriousness of his crime.”