A JEALOUS partner and her pensioner boyfriend attacked a prostitute he had had sex with, a court was told.

The 22-year-old's left breast was cut as her clothes were hacked off with a knife, before she fled into the street.

Detectives found clumps of her hair on a sofa where she was pinned down by Michael Dennehy, 62, and long-term partner Barbara Swales, 55.

Dennehy accepted that he lay on top of her, exposing himself, said Shaun Dodds, prosecuting.

But the girl told police that Dennehy cut off a leg of her jogging pants and an arm from her cardigan.

Months before, when Dennehy had split from Swales, he met the girl in Middlesbrough. They went to his home for sex and she visited him several more times.

But when she called unannounced on April 16 last year, she found Dennehy and Swales on the sofa.

Swales jumped up and punched her, shouting: "I'm back with him now, he's my boyfriend."

Mr Dodds said that Dennehy then grabbed the girl and told her: "You're not getting out of this house alive."

He got a knife and started to cut off her hair. Dennehy hacked off her clothes but she managed to flee.

Dennehy of Grove Road, North Ormesby, Middlesbrough, admitted indecent assault but a charge of attempted rape, which he denied, was left on file. Swales, of Southfield Road, Middlesbrough, admitted actual bodily harm, assault and false imprisonment. A charge of making a threat to kill was left on file.

Both were bailed for reports before sentence.