POLICE today sent out a zero tolerance warning on domestic violence as a man was jailed for five years after telling his estranged wife: "I'm going to slash your throat."

Aledwyn Jones, who told his young son to record his victim's pleas for mercy, was today starting his sentence as it was revealed that East Lancashire was the county's domestic abuse blackspot.

Preston Crown Court heard that Anne Jones, of Richmond Terrace, Darwen, was saved by an attack alarm given to her by police.

Figures from Lancashire Police revealed that Eastern Division -- which covers Blackburn, Darwen, Hyndburn and Ribble Valley -- is second only to Pennine Division -- which takes in Burnley, Pendle and Rossendale -- for the number of domestic violence incidents reported. Between April last year and January 2002, 3,181 incidents of domestic violence were reported in Eastern Division.

In Pennine Division, 4,364 incidents were reported.

Blackburn is the town with the highest number of reported cases in the county, recording 1,059.

In comparision, Western Division recorded 3,006 crimes, Northern 2,088, Central which includes Preston 1,288 and Southern, including Chorley 1,981. Chief Inspector Neil Smith, in charge of Eastern Division, said: "We adopt a zero tolerance approach towards domestic violence and we always respond to every indcident.

The shock figures came as Preston Crown Court heard how Aledwyn Jones, 43, broke into Anna Jones' house in Richmond Terrace, Darwen in the early hours of the morning wearing surgical gloves and carrying a sharpened screwdriver as she slept with her two sons.

He then subjected her to a horrifying ordeal when he threatened several times to kill her and even recorded her pleas for mercy on a tape recorder.

Jailing Jones for five years for making threats to kill, Judge Barbara Watson told him he posed "a clear and serious threat" to Miss Jones and the two children and that the consequences of his actions could have been "dire" if police had not intervened.

The court heard that Jones, who pleaded guilty to charges of making threats to kill and affray, had gone to his wife's homes in August last year.

The couple had been married for ten years but had a tempestuous relationship, the court heard.

Following an argument between the two a week before Jones had been arrested and warned not to go near the house by police as a condition of his bail. Miss Jones was so scared of what her husband would do that police also installed an alarm connected to the police station in Darwen which she could press in an emergency, and gave her another to wear around her neck.

Despite being warned off, Jones started making threatening phone calls during which he threatened to "slit her up."

On the night of August 8 Miss Jones went to bed at about 11pm with one of her sons in the bedroom with her and the other sleeping in the living room.

She woke up several hours later to see Jones standing over her wearing white plastic surgical gloves and carrying what she believed to be a knife but later turned out to be a sharpened screwdriver.

He said: "I'm going to kill you, I'm going to slash your throat" before Anna Jones managed to reach over and push the emergency alarm linked to the police.

Jones then grabbed his wife and forced her and the six-year-old son into the living room where the couple's seven-year-old boy was asleep.

He pushed Miss Jones into a chair while continuing to threaten violence. He then told the boy to get a tape recorder so he could record Miss Jones pleading for mercy and "listen to her agony." When she begged him to stop for the sake of the children he said it didn't matter because he was going to kill himself.

He fled the house when he heard police sirens, discarding the surgical gloves as he went.

He was later arrested in Milton Keynes where police found him working as an assistant on a fairground ride.

The alarm installed at the house was part of a pack supplied to the potential victims by the police.

After the case Det Sgt Ian Critchley, of Darwen CID said: "This was a horrific attack for which the sentence is appropriate."

Rossendale and Darwen MP Janet Anderson said: "I am delighted the police are taking domestic violence seriously. It is a huge problem for many women in my constituency and across East Lancashire.

"I would urge any woman who is suffering from domestic violence to come forward.

"I am very pleased that the police and the courts, as this case shows, are taking this crime very seriously.

"The other thing that we need to do is to confront the men who perpetrate this sort of violence and make clear that it is quite simply not acceptable."