A pensioner tortured his partner almost non-stop for eight days after she asked him to turn down the radio.

Norman Watt, 67, choked the woman with a cardigan, strangled her until she lost consciousness, burned her with cigarettes, struck her with a knife and beat her black and blue.

She was eventually rescued by a postman who was delivering mail to her bungalow in Leven, Fife, the High Court in Glasgow heard.

Watt admitted assaulting the victim, with whom he had been in a volatile on-off relationship for ten years, to the danger of her life.

He was originally charged with attempted murder but the prosecution accepted the reduced charge and on Friday he was jailed for six years.

The attacks occurred over an eight-day period in August last year after Watt turned the radio up "loud" and his partner asked him to lower the volume as she had elderly neighbours.

Watt punched her as she was sitting beside him on a couch and then dragged her across the room.

The violence temporarily stopped for a day when a relative stayed overnight, but Watt was soon again "picking on her for everything".

She was hit with a walking stick, struck on the bottom with a knife and repeatedly burned with cigarettes.

Watt then attacked her again by kicking, biting her and striking her with a small table. He also choked her with a cardigan until she 'thought she was going to die.'

On the last day Watt left the bungalow and she shouted to the postman for help.

The postman could see that she was badly injured. She had dried blood on her and was covered in bruises and blood was spattered on the living room wall.

She was later treated for the extensive marks on her body which included a burn mark and defensive-type injuries.