AN offender who broke into a woman’s house, strangled her until she passed out and sexually assaulted her has been jailed.

Daniel Delooze entered his victim’s home through the unlocked front door in the early hours.

She woke to find the 30-year-old standing by the side of her bed, before he inflicted a terrifying attack upon her.

Liverpool Crown Court heard this morning, Thursday, that Delooze travelled from his home in Wigan to the Orford area before breaking into the property at around 2am.

The victim’s children were asleep in the house at the time, with one even being in the same room at the time of the attack.

She could hear him ‘rambling’ while he throttled her in her own bed, and was only able to make out a handful of words including ‘kill’.

After the woman was rendered unconscious, Delooze sexually assaulted her – although the exact nature of his attack remains unclear.

When she awoke hours later at around 6am, she had suffered more than 20 separate injuries across her body.

The defendant – who appeared in court via video link to HMP Liverpool – was identified through DNA found on her clothing and bedsheets, and was found guilty of inflicting grievous bodily harm and sexual assault after a trial.

In a statement read out to the court, the victim said: “What really took place that night might remain unclear for the rest of my life.

“I can’t help but think that I could easily have died as a result of this incident.

“It’s difficult to comprehend.

“I’m not sure how I will manage on my own in the house with the children, I will be terrified – especially during the evenings.

“I want to wake up from it all, I want it all to be a nightmare.

“This was an unprovoked, violent attack – it was truly horrendous.”

Judge Brian Cummings jailed Delooze – who was described by his barrister as ‘trustworthy and honest’ – for eight years and handed him a two-year extended sentence.

Sentencing, he said: “It barely needs stating that strangling another person is a highly dangerous attack.

“It was entirely foreseeable that this could have resulted in death or catastrophic injuries.

“You strangled her unconscious and abandoned her alone in that state in the middle of the night, and it is a matter of pure fortune that her injuries are not more serious than they already are.

“The presence of children in the house is a serious aggravating factor.

“I can offer the victim no closure on precisely what happened to her when she was unconscious.

“I’m satisfied that you present a significant risk of committing further offences and that such offences carry a high risk of serious harm to members of the public.

“I’ve been struck by the very serious and disturbing nature of this case, and how readily you were prepared to act in this way.”

Judge Cummings also imposed an indefinite restraining order preventing Delooze, who was previously convicted of assault occasioning actual bodily harm in 2010, from contacting the victim.