A man who chased his partner down a Didcot street with a knife before stabbing her inside a neighbour’s house was yesterday jailed indefinitely.

Zabi Tahery flew into a violent rage after arguing with his mother-in-law, before threatening his partner Katherina Dyrova with a 10in kitchen knife.

But Ms Dyrova and her mother managed to escape from the house in Mansfield Gardens during the incident in July, jumping over the garden fence and bursting unannounced into the house of a neighbour they did not know.

Oxford Crown Court was told Tahery, 45, who is originally from Afghanistan, chased Ms Dyrova into the house before stabbing her at least seven times. She suffered a series of injuries, including wounds to the stomach and chest.

Cathy Olliver, prosecuting, said helicopter pilot Jason Steward, who was visiting friends nearby, heard the screams and followed Tahery into the house, before grabbing his knife and pinning him down.

Helped by other neighbours, who also heard the commotion, Mr Steward tied Tahery up with duct tape so he could not escape and called police.

Lucy Tapper, defending, said Tahery, who admitted wounding with intent, was drunk when the attack happened and had been depressed after his son died in bombing in Afghanistan in January.

Judge Anthony King gave Tahery an indeterminate sentence for the public’s protection, ruling he should serve a minimum of 30 months, and recommended him for deportation upon his release.