A DRUG-fuelled pervert has been jailed for eight years after breaking into a woman’s house and threatening her with knives as she lay in bed – while her young son was present.

Alan Hayes, from Runcorn, waited outside his victim’s house in the early hours before entering the property moments after her husband had left for work.

Today, Friday, the 27-year-old was jailed after admitting trespassing with intent to commit a sexual offence and actual bodily harm at Chester Crown Court.

The victim had been out with friends in Runcorn town centre on the night of Friday, March 24, this year when she saw the defendant and his brother.

Having briefly said hello to the pair, the woman received a series of Facebook messages from Hayes’ brother – including one containing a video of him performing a sex act.

She got a taxi home to the Higher Runcorn area at around 4am on Saturday, March 25, with her husband leaving for work shortly afterwards.

The victim had been joined in her bed by her young son when Hayes, of Willow Close in Halton Lodge, entered the room – ‘pinning her’ to the bed and leaving her ‘unable to move’.

Hayes was holding two knives, one in either hand, that he had taken from the downstairs kitchen.

He put the knives to the victim’s throat before she pushed them away, suffering cuts to her hands and arms.

The victim’s older son had seen the defendant walking past his bedroom and ran downstairs to get help when he heard his mum screaming.

Hayes, who has previous convictions for assault and criminal damage from October last year, ran downstairs after the boy before leaving the house.

He had earlier been seen on CCTV ‘snorting white powder’ in Runcorn Old Town and had sought the services of prostitutes as well as searched for ‘worrying’ sexual content on the internet.

The victim was present in court, with a statement read out on behalf saying that ‘every day of her life had been taken over by worry’ and that she had ‘not been able to move forward or deal with it’.

Her statement added: “Someone I don’t even know has had so much control over mine and my family’s lives.”

Hayes will serve five-and-a-half years of his sentence before his is eligible for parole, with his honour judge Simon Berkson also subjecting him to an indefinite restraining order preventing him from contacting his victim or her family or entering the area in which she lives.

Sentencing, judge Berkson said: “In the course of the evening, you fuelled yourself with cocaine and drink.

“At the end of a long evening, she made her way home and went to bed – moments after her husband had left the house to go to work, you walked in.

“I am quite sure from the evidence that that was no coincidence, you were outside the house waiting – he left and you took the immediate opportunity to go in.

“You have told total cock and bull stories about your intentions – the fact is that you found her to be a very attractive woman and you went into her bedroom quite deliberately to perform some kind of sexual act upon her.

“She was absolutely terrified and you weren’t even put off by passing her sons bedroom and making a remark to him.

“In her bedroom, you put knives that you had picked up downstairs against her throat – her little boy was sitting on the bed next to her, absolutely terrified.

“Fortunately at that stage you seemed to come to your senses, for nothing happened and you got up and left the house – leaving her distraught and fearing what might have happened to her and her children at your hands.”

Hayes was also ordered to sign the sex offenders register for life and to pay a victim surcharge.

Judge Berkson added: “It is quite plain that you had sex on your mind – what is extremely worrying was that on your phone you had been looking up the worst kind of sexual internet sites, involving violent conduct against women whose houses had been invaded.

“You knew exactly what you were doing and the psychological impact upon this family has been enormous – it will take some time to deal with this mentally, and it will always be there.”