A dangerous offender who had not long assaulted his ex-partner and another man, made threats to kill a police officer while claiming ‘cop killer’ Dale Cregan and Raoul Moat were his idols.

Jamie O’Shea, 32, had entered his ex-partner’s house in Burnley on the morning of August 27 and, after finding her in bed with another man, proceeded to attack them both while they slept, using a dumbbell to the smash the face of his male victim.

Preston Crown Court heard the injuries caused to the man were so severe that he needed facial reconstruction including nine metal plates fitted in his jaw and nose surgery.

In a victim personal statement, the man said he had been struggling to leave the house, was struggling with the difference in his appearance, and feared that he would never properly recover from his injuries.

Prosecuting, Beth Pilling told the court O'Shea was arrested for those offences and appeared in court but was bailed on August 29.

Ms Pilling said: “He had been told not to go to the Burnley area but realising his daughter’s mobile phone had been taken by the police who were investigating the assault, he made a 999 call and said he was going to petrol bomb the police station, kill a police officer and slit a police officer’s throat, as well as kill a member of the public.”

Audio of the first call to the police, made on September 16, was played to the court, where O’Shea can clearly be heard saying, “I am going to burn you all,” “I have stabbed my own eye out like Dale Cregan as he is my idol, I knew for a fact I was going to kill a police officer one day”.

He continues, saying, “My daughter is 10, you pick on her and I am going to pick on the innocent police woman or man.

"I am probably going to kill a member of the public, and a police woman like Dale Cregan and Raoul Moat. Come and find me because an innocent person is going to die on the streets tonight.”

A second call was made to the police by O’Shea two days later on September 18, where he continued with his tirade of threats, again referencing Dale Cregan, who gunned down two female police officers in cold blood in 2012.

In the second audio clip, O’Shea, formerly of St Ledger Court, Accrington, can be heard saying, “I am going to kill an innocent member of the public”, as well as “someone is going to get stabbed in the back of the neck”.

In the same recording, O’Shea tells the call handler, “I am watching videos of Raoul Moat and Dale Cregan. They are my Gods. I have one eye myself. They are my Gods, and I always knew before I die I am going to kill some police woman”.

Ms Pilling went on: “O’Shea was arrested later that day after officers found he had been sleeping in a tent in some woods.

“He had in the tent a meat cleaver which he said he had been using to cut up cardboard.

“He was interviewed and said he had no recollection of making the phone calls and said he was intoxicated and was ashamed of what he’d done.”

Offering mitigation, Joseph Allman said O’Shea had been suffering from the trauma of finding his dad dead in 2018 and obviously had issues with alcohol, but was genuinely remorseful.

Judge Guy Mathieson said: “You come before me for a series of extremely serious matters.

“I have concluded you are someone who is capable of extreme violence with the use of a weapon and you are someone who is capable of making extreme threats of violence.

“You claim you don’t remember what went on in your ex-partner’s house but at the same time justifying your actions as self defence.

“I do not accept the phone calls to the police as more drunken mindless rambling. You pose a risk of serious harm to the public and are dangerous.”

O’Shea pleaded guilty to section 18 grievous bodily harm with intent, assault occasioning actual bodily harm, possession of a bladed article and two counts of malicious communications and was jailed for seven years, with three years on extended licence.