A JILTED student who “sawed” his girlfriend's neck with a kitchen knife to teach her a lesson has been cleared of attempted murder.

Gary Davies, aged 26, locked Robyn Clegg-Gibson, aged 19, in her student halls bedroom before hacking a seven-centimetre cut across her throat.

Davies, who denied attempted murder but admitted two charges of wounding with intent and false imprisonment, attacked the teenager early on September 30 last year after she ended their two-month relationship.

That night, after returning to Miss Clegg-Gibson's house at Lancaster University where the pair both studied, Davies, originally from Bolton, dealt five blows with a serrated kitchen knife because he “wanted to leave a scar”.

At a three-day trial at Preston Crown Court, Davies, who was described as a “demanding boyfriend”, said he had originally picked up a pair of scissors to scare her after becoming “angry and upset”.

He said: “I wanted to scare her but I didn't think scissors were intimidating enough, then I saw the knife in the drawer.

“I wanted to give her something to remember not to mess with me. I was losing face as I saw it with her and her friends. The argument was trivial but it was still on my mind. I was worked up.

“I was angry and upset and I wanted to leave a scar.

“I wanted to give her something to remember every time she looks in the mirror. I was just stabbing everywhere.”

Following the break-up, Davies was let into the house to look for his keys, which he claimed he had lost during the night out.

He was asked to leave “countless times” after Miss Clegg-Gibson became uncomfortable with him in her bedroom but he refused.

As she phoned the police, Davies, went into the kitchen and grabbed a knife, before returning to her bedroom and locking the door behind him.

Threatening Miss Clegg-Gibson with the knife, he told her to ring the police again and tell them not to come to the address.

But a few minutes later, a police officer arrived outside and asked Davies to open the door, causing him to panic.

During the trial, Paul Cummings, prosecuting, said: “He climbed on top of her and started to saw at her neck.

“She had her hand up and was trying to stop him. She was curled up in a ball on the floor bleeding and could feel the knife on her throat.”

Davies, who was also in his first year at university but lived in different student accommodation, was stopped when the police officer kicked down the door.

She suffered a deep cut across her neck, which had cut deep into fatty tissue but had not severed a blood vessel or caused nerve damage.

A jury of seven men and five women found Davies not guilty of attempted murder and returned the unanimous verdict after 32 minutes of deliberations.

He was remanded in custody and will be sentenced on April 14 for the other charges after pleading guilty at an earlier hearing.