A THUG who slashed his ex-girlfriend across the forehead with a kitchen knife in a jealous rage has been jailed.

Graham Lewis, of Milton Road in Cowley, had denied wounding with intent but jurors took three hours and 44 minutes to find him guilty by a unanimous verdict yesterday.

Prosecutors at Oxford Crown Court said during the trial that the 59-year old had previously been in a relationship with his victim before the attack on November 15 last year.

Recalling the incident of violence from the witness box she said she was at home with her new boyfriend when Lewis started shouting through her letter box.

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When she refused to let him in, she said he ‘booted the door down’, kicking it ‘about six times’ to get inside.

As he did so, Ms Lewis said she locked herself and her boyfriend in her bedroom on the ground floor before Mr Lewis then climbed in through the window having gone through the house and into the garden.

She said her boyfriend left the house, and as she went in to the kitchen Mr Lewis followed close behind, grabbed a kitchen knife and attacked her.

Ms Lewis added: “He just grabbed the knife off the side, it was a long silver kitchen knife – the biggest one you get in a block.

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“It just happened so quick, he seemed angry.

“He just slashed it top to bottom, just one strike.”

The court was shown pictures of a deep cut down the victim's forehead, as well as injuries to her cheek and chest.

Giving his version of events Lewis claimed that the woman had been the aggressor.

After the verdict had been handed down presiding Judge Nigel Daly proceeded directly to sentencing Lewis.

He was jailed for eight years and made subject to a restraining order against his victim for 10 years.