A CRACK addict who slashed his girlfriend's face with a kitchen knife and broke her arm with a metal bar after flying into a jealous rage has been given a life sentence. Andrew Simpson, from Weston, wrongly believed his girlfriend had been seeing another

A CRACK addict who slashed his girlfriend's face with a kitchen knife and broke her arm with a metal bar after flying into a jealous rage has been given a life sentence.Andrew Simpson, from Weston, wrongly believed his girlfriend had been seeing another man when she failed to return home after a night out with friends.The 36-year-old defendant kicked in the door of Georgina Ramsay's home in Bruton Close, Nailsea, and slashed her clothes and bedding with the knife before lying in wait for her.When the 19-year-old girl returned she was met by Simpson running down the stairs towards her brandishing a 9cm long blade. She believed she was going to die.Simpson, of Earlham Grove, Weston, who admitted one charge of wounding with intent, four charges of assault occasioning actual bodily harm, one charge of assault and one charge of theft, then slashed the knife around the terrified woman's head, cutting one nostril through.He was handed a life sentence by a judge at Bristol Crown Court on Tuesday.That means he will have to serve at least two years behind bars, less 175 days served on remand, before the parole board will consider him for release.Following the sentencing, Miss Ramsay told how she had endured six months of violence and threats from Simpson during their one-year relationship.The bar worker told how she was going to work with black eyes and would find Simpson waiting for her when she finished and he would force her to go back to his house.Stephen Mooney, prosecuting, said police installed a panic button into his home because Simpson had been on the run and he had even put a knife or a hammer in every room of their home to make sure they would be safe.His violence came to a head on December 14 last year after Miss Ramsay had spent the night at a friend's house because she had been drinking.Mr Mooney said she was making her way home when the defendant called her and asked where she had been. He became enraged when she told him how she had been drunk and fallen asleep and he attacked her.Mr Mooney said Simpson later forced the woman to travel to his home with him in a taxi and punched her en route.When they reached his home he took her upstairs and said he would torture her and threatened to pull her teeth out with pliers if she didn't tell him the truth.Mr Mooney said Simpson dragged her by her hair then ordered her to strip and get in the shower. He said the defendant punched her again when she got out.Despite two people then arriving at the address Simpson had grabbed a carving knife and told Miss Ramsay he was going to murder her. He later grabbed a metal bar and ran towards his victim.He said one of the people who had arrived eventually persuaded Simpson to let Miss Ramsay go to hospital and they all travelled in a taxi to accident and emergency. Simpson fled when police arrived.Mr Mooney said the defendant, who has a conviction for assaulting a previous girlfriend with a knife, had gone on the run and wasn't arrested until January 8 this year.Steven Pidcock, defending, said his client had told him he was addicted to crack cocaine and suffered from paranoia bordering on psychosis.He said Simpson was ashamed of what he had done but claimed the injury to the woman's face was done with the handle of the knife.Jailing Simpson, Judge Simon Darwall-Smith said: "Your previous convictions reveal your jealousy and your difficulties with partners before and have demonstrated the lengths to which you are prepared to go. "I have come to the conclusion you are likely to commit similar offences in the future. It's my duty today to impose a life sentence.