Former stripper David Richards, 42, lay in wait for hours to ambush 32-year-old Alex Alam in the dark when she stepped outside her home in Stock, Essex, to let her dogs out as children were inside.

She suffered a fractured skull and cuts to her face and scalp in the "bloodbath" that ensued, Judge David Turner KC told Chelmsford Crown Court.

Ms Alam said: "I've been utterly betrayed beyond belief by the person I chose to have children with, turning my life upside down."

In her victim impact statement, read in court by prosecutor William Carter, she added: "The scars are a constant reminder of what he did to me."

Judge Turner praised Ms Alam for "courageously" attending Thursday's sentencing hearing, and she wept in court as details were read out.

A shaven headed Richards, of no fixed address, appeared by video-link from Chelmsford Prison, sobbing periodically through the hearing.

Mr Carter, prosecuting, said Richards took an axe, dry suit and cable ties to the address on 3 April 2022.

"Clearly pre-meditation prior to the night and on the night," he said.

"You will remember he waited a number of hours dressed as he was, with the weapon, waiting for (Ms Alam's friend) Mr Norcross to depart."

He noted Ms Alam, who previously ran a beauty salon in Surrey, had said it "really was only the fact she kept on thinking that saved her life".

Richards was earlier found guilty of attempted murder.

He was also convicted of breaching a non-molestation order.

The judge told Richards that the events of 3 April were a "hideous culmination of the breakdown some 18 months earlier of your family relationships".

He said that from the autumn of 2019 there had been reports to police alleging domestic assaults, harassment and stalking among other matters.

He described Richards as "obsessive" and having a "jealous mindset".

The judge added: "Your dream home, family and lifestyle to which you had aspired had very sadly unravelled and left you depressed, isolated and angry."

He said Richards had "stalked and monitored the home and Ms Alam before that night".

Richards had then "tied her up briefly" during the incident but this was "ineffectual", said the judge and Richards proceeded to drag her by the hair.

Essex Police said that when Richards stepped out to try and find Ms Alam's phone, she was able to free herself, lock her doors and call for help.

A police chase then ensued and when Richards was caught he told officers he had done "the most stupid thing I had done in my life".

Judge Turner sentenced Richards to 27 years in prison and issued a restraining order.

A report in The Independent newspaper says that in 2000 David Richards auditioned as a stripper for the group, which the firm's website says was founded in the UK in 1987, following in the footsteps of the earlier US-based Chippendales.

Companies House records say he became a director of Dreamboys London Limited in 2014.