A JILTED lover attacked his ex-girlfriend and sent her sister and friend "blood-curdling" messages threatening torture and murder – saying to one: "I'll burn your face off with acid."

Self-confessed woman-hater Jack Findlay left his three victims petrified, and one was so frightened she was moved into a "safe house" by her family.

The 24-year-old from North Yorkshire punched and bit his former partner and later left a voicemail for her sister saying: "Keep your nose out of it, or I'll burn your face off with acid."

He threatened to dismember his ex and kill her sister, prosecutor Paul Newcombe told Teesside Crown Court.

A friend of his former partner received a "worrying" call in which Findlay said she was fighting for her life in hospital after he had slashed her face, cut off her hand and broken her jaw and arm.

He blamed the friend for causing trouble between them, and would get revenge by slashing her and her children, cut off their feet and petrol-bomb their home.

Days later, after police were called to an incident in Middlesbrough, Findlay tried to attack an officer with a machete, yelling: "F***ing come on then."

He said he felt angry towards women, that they are "all the same, and should all be killed".

His lawyer, Rachel Dyson, said: "He is struggling to come to terms with the fact he has committed these offences against his former partner. He recognises the threats were utterly horrible, but there was no intention for him to carry them out."

Findlay, of Prospect View, Appleton Wiske, near Northallerton, admitted actual bodily harm assault, sending threatening communications, and threatening a person with a bladed article, and was jailed for two years and eight months.