A TEENAGER with a collection of Samurai swords and machetes is behind bars after threatening to kill his girlfriend and slashing her arm as she tried to flee.

The bloody incident came at the end of 24 hours of drug-fuelled mayhem that Christopher Taylor caused his family and young partner in March, a court was told.

The 19-year-old attacked his girlfriend, 17, on at least three occasions and told her: "You can't leave me. I'd rather cut you up than have you leave me."

He also threatened to slash her throat in an earlier outburst that day, then warned his mother he would slice off her arms and legs when she intervened in the row.

Teesside Crown Court heard that the young couple's four-year relationship had been beset with problems, and Taylor's parents despaired at his behaviour.

Defence barrister, Duncan McReddie, admitted it was "a nasty and prolonged attack" and told a judge: "It comes from a drug-induced lack of inhibition."

"He is by and large an intelligent young man who managed to work his way through college, and then this abhorrent behaviour is entirely due to his liking of illegal substances."

When Taylor was arrested, police found cannabis and Diazepam on him as well as a collection of ornamental weapons at his home in Redmarshall, near Stockton.

The teenager told officers he had little memory of what had happened, and said: "I'm devastated if I've cut her . . . I love my girlfriend and want to marry her."

Prosecutor David Crook said Taylor gave himself up when police threatened to use a Taser gun on him, but he was not fit to be quizzed until the following day.

He also said he had the best parents in the world and they would do anything for him, while a statement from his parents said his violence frightened them.

During the assaults on his girlfriend, he repeatedly punched her, threw her onto a bed, spat at her, hurled her across a room into a television, said Mr Crook.

At one point he wrapped his legs around her from the back on a bed and threatened to cut her neck, and later grabbed her by the face while holding a sword.

After slashing her arm, he followed the teenager into the bathroom, threatened to burn down her home, and warned her: "Next time it'll be your hand."

Taylor, of Ferguson Way, Redmarshall, admitted wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm, common assault, possessing Class B and Class C drugs and making threats to kill.

Jailing him for four years and eight months, Judge Simon Bourne-Arton, QC, told him: "You are not without intellect, and you are not without ability.

"But on this day, you, due to the drugs you took, undoubtedly carried out a sustained, nasty and violent attack on those close to you."