A man slashed his girlfriend's throat with a serrated knife after a row over burned lasagne.

Mark McGowan, 36, dragged Susan Simpson around by the hair and hit her head with a table leg.

After having her throat slashed 42-year-old Ms Simpson screamed for help and thought she was going to die.

The High Court in Glasgow heard McGowan nearly cut some arteries on her throat and, had he done so, his partner of three years would have been killed.

During the sustained attack at her home in Cardonald, Ms Simpson begged McGowan to stop and cried that she loved him in a desperate bid to make him stop.

Neighbours below heard her screams for help and arrived in time to see the assault.

McGowan was jailed for five years on Thursday after he admitted attempting to murder his ex-partner on March 17.

Ms Simpson had been cooking dinner for McGowan before visiting a friend in the same block of flats who had just been released from hospital.

McGowan soon turned up at the man's door and demanded his partner return to their flat.

Once they arrived back in their flat Ms Simpson removed the lasagne she had been preparing from the oven to find that parts of it had been burned.

McGowan then flew into a rage and accused her of having feelings for other men.

When she denied this McGowan became violent and aggressive before grabbing her by the hair and dragging her from the kitchen into the living room.

Ms Simpson was then hit on the back of the head with a leg off of a coffee table leg.

She feared for her life and screamed for help but McGowan continued raining blows on her with the table leg before grabbing a bread knife, dragging her to her feet and slashing her throat.

Ms Simpson felt the skin on her throat opening up as he dragged the knife across it in one fluid motion.

McGowan then picked up the table leg and calmly walked out of the house.

Ms Simpson was taken to the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital in Glasgow, where she was treated for a 5cm to 6cm wound to her neck which needed eight stitches.

She also had a 2cm to 3cm wound to the back of her head needing four stitches.

The injuries will cause disfiguring and scarring due to the use of a serrated knife.

McGowan was found by police the following day and when cautioned and charged, replied "I didn't try to murder her."

Defence counsel Thomas Ross said McGowan "accepts responsibility" and "accepts this incident brings the relationship to an end".