Vicious: Kerry Roberts slashed 44-year-old Ashley Arnold's throat and chest after accusing her of taking drugs behind his back, a court was told . A man who almost hacked his girlfriend to death with a meant cleaver before going to a Halloween party covered in her blood has been jailed for life. Kerry Roberts slashed 44-year-old Ashley Arnold's throat and chest after in a 'frenzied' attack after accusing her of taking drugs behind his back, a court was told. He then went to the Halloween party in Colchester, Essex, wearing just his boxers and told his daughter, Linzi, who was hosting the party: 'I've killed her, she's dead.' Roberts, known as Wart, was due to stand trial charged with attempted murder but changed his plea to guilty when he appeared at Chelmsford Crown Court yesterday. Today he was sentenced to life imprisonment, with a minimum term of nine years. Sentencing Roberts, Judge Charles Gratwicke said: 'You embarked on an unprovoked, murderous, frenzied and sustained attack on Ms Arnold in which you viciously and mercilessly attempted to butcher her to death with a meat cleaver. 'The injuries you inflicted on that women were horrific. The most significant being a severe, gaping wound to the neck running from ear to ear. 'But for the intervention of skilled medical professionals, I am certain she would have died. This was a brutal and callous attempt to kill.' Roberts, 49, had been seen acting strangely while at the party with his then-girlfriend Ms Arnold earlier in the evening of 1 November last year. He told one guest he was in love with Ms Arnold but was convinced she was going to die. The couple left the party at 10pm and returned to Ms Arnold's home in Jaywick, Essex. Mother-of-four Ms Arnold suffered severe cuts to her throat, running almost from ear to ear, when Roberts attacked her, the court heard. She also sustained a 6in cut from her armpit to her right breast and suffered severe injuries to her hands when she tried to defend herself. Ms Arnold staggered outside where she was helped by neighbours and passers-by. She was taken to Colchester General Hospital, Essex, in a critical condition. The court heard Ms Arnold has recovered but is still unable to use her right hand properly. Brutal: Police cars outside the home in Essex where the attack took place on the 1 November last year . Roberts, who suffers from depression, returned to the party, but his daughter told him to leave after he told her: 'I've killed her, she's dead.' After he left the party, Linzi and her partner, Wayne Sams, went searching for him and found him crouched in the driveway of his parents' home, where he had previously lodged. Mr Sams gave Roberts his tracksuit bottoms when he begged for clothes before Roberts fled. Police found him crouching in a bush on a nearby road. At the time of the attack, Roberts was on licence after serving just two years of a six-year jail sentence for setting fire to a former girlfriend's home in Corringham, Essex. Investigation: The home in Essex where the attack took place. Roberts was due to stand trial charged with attempted murder but changed his plea to guilty when he appeared at Chelmsford Crown Court yesterday . Peter Clark, prosecuting, said: 'This was a sustained attack that caused serious physical and mental harm. 'Perhaps the most disconcerting thing is the similarities with the previous incident.' Speaking after the hearing yesterday, Det Insp Anne Cameron said: 'I am relieved Roberts has admitted his guilt, albeit at the start of his trial. 'He has saved the victim having to relieve the events of that traumatic night in court. We were so lucky we were not investigating a murder.' John Caudle, mitigating, today said Roberts had been driven by a misguided obsession with his partner misusing drugs - a similar motive to what had led him to commit the previous arson. He added: 'This was not a planned attack. It was spontaneous and as Your Honour observed yesterday during opening he was not pre-armed and it was during that he went and got the weapon. 'Clearly, he flipped.'
Kerry Roberts slashed Ashley Arnold's throat and chest in attack last year . After attack he returned to party where he said: 'I've killed her, she's dead'
Miss Arnold, 44, staggered outside where neighbours phoned ambulance . Roberts was sentenced to life in prison at Chelmsford Crown Court today .