A 47-year-old handyman from Hampshire was jailed for life today after he admitted slashing a woman's throat, raping her and leaving her for dead in woods.

Robert Bridges, from Farnborough was sentenced at Winchester Crown Court to life imprisonment for two charges of rape, one of attempted murder and two other counts of sexual assault.

The judge, Mr Justice Irwin, told Bridges he would serve a minimum of 17 years before he would be considered for parole.

He also ordered Bridges to be placed on the sex offenders register.

The court heard that his 38-year-old victim was walking her black Labrador at Bourley Woods near Aldershot Military Training Ground last August, when Bridges attacked her.

He threatened her with a hunting knife and forced her to perform sex acts on him.

But when she thrust her dog lead between his legs in an attempt to flee, he slashed her windpipe with the knife.

He then cut off her clothes and raped her as she lay bleeding and choking, the court heard.

She managed to survive the attack by pretending to be dead and managing to flag down a passing car, naked and bleeding after Bridges had left the scene, the court was told.

And the victim only survived her injuries because no major vein or artery was severed.

Bridges, who worked as a handyman in the maintenance department of a Surrey estate, was arrested and interviewed on September 10, when he gave a false alibi for the bank holiday Sunday of the attack.

But he was picked out by the victim during an identity parade and later charged.

A trial was started earlier this week but Bridges changed his plea to guilty three days into the case.