A mum and her children hid in a locked bathroom while her ex-boyfriend "smeared" blood over their home.
Gregorz Ewiak and another intruder smashed through a living room window into his former partner's house.
When the terrifying ordeal was over, he sent her a text "threatening to have the children taken off her and her killed".
READ MORE: Family watched dad slip away on Father's Day after vicious attack
A judge told Ewiak his actions must have left Paulina Dziekan and her children - aged just two and seven - "absolutely petrified".
Liverpool Crown Court was told Miss Dziekan was at her home in Birchwood, Warrington, on October 21 last year.
Ewiak, 34, of Neasham Road, Dagenham, London, was subject to bail conditions at the time, with an overnight home curfew, due to "extradition proceedings".
But the mum heard banging on her front door at around 10pm, before her living room window was smashed.
She rushed upstairs, collected her children from their bedrooms, and locked them in the bathroom with her.
Jonathan Rogers, prosecuting, said: "She could then hear people in her home and she heard someone shout 'I'm going to kill you' in Polish."
She didn't recognise the voice but someone started banging on the bathroom door trying to get in.
Neighbours called the police and the two intruders left the scene.
When officers arrived, they found the front door lock was broken, with the key snapped in the lock.
Mr Rogers said they discovered "large amounts of blood" by the living room window and "smeared throughout the property", including on the TV, walls and carpets, and door handles, which revealed Ewiak's DNA.
Mr Rogers said Miss Dziekan told a social worker Ewiak had confronted her a few weeks earlier "suspecting she was having a relationship with a next door neighbour".
Ewiak was arrested and interviewed, but made no comment.
He admitted burglary with intent to cause damage and criminal damage, after a charge of making threats to kill was dropped by the crown.
Mr Rogers said Miss Dziekan concluded a statement by saying "she is scared of the defendant because he is crazy".
He said: "She is unsure of what he may do and she believes the safest thing for her to do is to return to Poland."
Miss Dziekan also wrote a letter to the court, but later said this was after being "pressured into doing so, by two unknown individuals".
Recorder Ian Harris said Miss Dziekan explained "a letter was sent to the court in my name requesting a lenient sentence for Mr Ewiak" and said "the letter was made under duress".
Ewiak has four previous convictions including theft in 2008 and "advertising prostitution" in 2010.
In 2014 he was jailed for battery after assaulting a former partner.
That same year he was jailed for 14 months in Poland for inflicting grievous bodily harm.
The court heard a letter from the mum of his child described him as a "good father to their daughter" and there was a letter from his daughter "saying how much she misses her father".
Benjamin Brown, defending, asked for full one third credit for his client's early guilty pleas and said he had "no knowledge" of the letter sent by the victim.
He said: "He accepts that he clearly should never have entered the property and he does recognise the impact upon his ex-partner."
Mr Brown said: "His sole focus and motivation now your honour is to become a good father to his daughter, who is 12 years of age.
"He fully appreciates and keenly feels the loss to her of a father figure as a result of his actions."
The lawyer said Ewiak wanted to take up a job offer at a vegetable shop, he said: "The defendant wants to become a beneficial member of society moving forward and and is motivated to gain employment upon his release."
Recorder Harris said reading a pre-sentence report, "he only accepted limited responsibility for his offending and he doesn't come across as being particularly remorseful".
Mr Brown suggested "language barriers may have contributed to that impression".
Recorder Harris said the victim and her children "must have been absolutely petrified" when locked in the bathroom.
The judge said the sight of all the blood afterwards "must have added horror to the fear that Paulina and the children felt".
He said Ewiak travelled up from Dagenham and when he arrived at the house, "it seems to me there was an explosion of temper so far as you're concerned".
Recorder Harris jailed him for two years and four months, adding: "This is without prejudice to the extradition matter that as I understand it is going through the courts."
He also imposed a seven-year restraining order to protect the victim.
If you have been affected by any issues mentioned in this article, you can contact the Domestic Violence Helpline for free on 0808 2000 247 or any of the following organisations:
People can also call Merseyside Police on 101 or, if they are in immediate danger, call 999.
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