A HUNGARIAN national who battered a Burnley grandmother with a plank has been jailed for nine years at the town’s crown court.

Jacqueline Christie, then 50, had gone around to the home of Janos Bereczki, in Springfield Road, amid concerns he had been harassing her daughter, Jodie Mulvaney.

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But after the the grandmother knocked on his window, last March, he came to the door armed with a plank and launched a sustained attack.

Only the intervention of horrified neighbours prevented Mrs Christie from sustaining even more serious injuries.

Bereczki, 37, is now starting a lengthy jail term after admitting to a charge of wounding the grandmother with intent to cause her grievous bodily harm at a court hearing last June.

Probation and psychiatric reports had been prepared on the defendant, who was said to have no previous record for violence in the several years he had lived in the UK. He has been held in custody since the incident.

He was originally charged with stalking Ms Mulvaney, amid allegations he had proposed marriage to her, but the offence was later dropped by the Crown Prosecution Service.

Mrs Christie received 16 stitches, and two broken fingers and a thumb, as a result of the violence and was treated for cuts and bruises all over her body, including facial injuries which saw her one eye nearly swollen shut.

Recuperating at her home in Burnley Wood afterwards, she told the Lancashire Telegraph after the attack: “The worst thing about it is that I’ve not been able to look after my grandchildren.

“I just remember him smiling at me, through the window, and then I don’t recall anything else until I came around.”

Her family, including mother Jean Ridge, remained at her bedside as she was treated at the Royal Preston Hospital, where she also underwent a precautionary CT scan.

Mrs Ridge said: “It was a horrific attack, he was kicking her when she was on the floor.

“She was only rescued when neighbours heard the commotion and ran to help her.”

After the hearing, Detective Superintendent Paul Withers said: “We continue to support the victim in this case who has been incredibly brave throughout.

“Without her bravery the defendant wouldn’t have received the lengthy custodial sentence he richly deserves.”