A WOMAN beaten up by a stranger looked like something out of a horror film when she was found by a passer by on a Southampton street, a judge heard.

After being told by her partner their relationship was over, Gina Burghardt had gone for a walk on Portswood Road when she met serial offender Sean Walton who invited to a nearby house for a drink.

The city crown court that after he had fallen asleep in a chair, the woman occupier said she wanted to go to bed and Ms Burghardt woke him up.

Walton flew into a rage and lunging forward punched her in the face.

Prosecutor Edward Phillips said the victim was later found walking in the road where she approached passerby Matthew Guy for help.

He noticed the bottom part of her lip was torn apart and ripped in the middle so he could still see her teeth when her mouth was closed. She winced every time she tried to speak and her injuries looked like “something out of a horror movie.”

Her injuries, the court heard, needed an hour's surgery.

Walton, 46, of Gordon Avenue, Southampton, admitted causing actual bodily harm.

“This was a sustained attack resulting in serious injury when the victim was particularly vulnerable,” Mr Phillips said. “He took advantage of her.”

The court was told Walton had nine previous convictions for assaulting, including two against previous partners and one involving his father.

Eve Shelley, defending, said: “His long term plan after his release from prison is to distance himself from Southampton because he knows if he returns there, he will go back to the cycle of drinking and offending.”

Jailing him for 20 months, Judge Nicholas Rowland said it had been an unprovoked, sustained assault that resulted in serious injury.