12 years for voodoo stabbing

A man who carried out a horrifying ritualistic attack on his girlfriend before going on the run is today starting a 12-year jail sentence.

Clayton Blake sparked a nationwide police hunt when he vanished after first stalking and then assaulting Annette Jemmett in a jealous rage.

Miss Jemmett was stabbed in the back, neck and shoulders before being hurled downstairs by Blake. The mother of three is now confined to a wheelchair.

The attack took place in front of her daughter, then aged eight. The girl, now 10, gave evidence at the Old Bailey via video link and her evidence was crucial in jailing Blake. Miss Jemmett, 33, said: "The 12-year sentence is brilliant. I'm so proud of my daughter."

The court heard how Blake, 30, met Miss Jemmett in 2001 but she ended the relationship after a year when he became obsessive and violent towards her.

He stalked her for eight months and threatened to shoot her. He later went to her flat where he punched and stabbed her.

Six months after that he again went to her Clapham home and launched his voodoo-style attack covered in cooking oil, carrying a bag of salt and dressed only in cut-off shorts.

Flinging handfuls of salt he stabbed her five times. One thrust came within five millimetres of killing her.

He went on the run but gave himself up after a month. He smuggled a mobile phone into prison and pestered her.

Jailing Blake, Judge Michael Mettyear told him Miss Jemmett's life would be "blighted forever" by what he did, and recommended that Blake, an illegal immigrant from Jamaica, be deported on release.