A MAN who pushed his pregnant partner down stairs and kicked her in the stomach has been jailed.

John James McAndrew, 44, had previously said he would “cut the baby out of her”, said Rob Galley, prosecuting.

With a knife in his hand, McAndrew also threatened to “stab to death” the Riccall man with whom the couple were staying.

He beat their host up and pushed a plastic bottle into his mouth.

McAndrew told police he had drunk nearly two bottles of vodka and a bottle of wine, said Mr Galley.

Mitigating, solicitor advocate Keith Allen said McAndrew had had a drinking problem since he was eight.

McAndrew, of no fixed address, pleaded guilty to two charges of actual bodily harm and was jailed for 20 months at York Crown Court.

Judge Simon Hickey told him he had attacked the woman after she tried to barricade herself in the bathroom to get away from him, and had used “gratuitous degradation” on the man.

Mr Galley said a hospital check had revealed the baby was not harmed by the attack.

The couple had met while at an alcoholics’ rehabilitation centre and she was 12 weeks’ pregnant at the time of the attack.

The Riccall man, who had also been at the centre, invited them to stay with him.

Everyone in the house had been drinking on January 12 and McAndrew had been getting paranoid.

At about midnight, police were called to the house because he refused to leave. He eventually did, but returned through an unlocked back door after they had left.

He got the knife and as well as threatening the man, pointed it at his own neck.

Shortly before blacking out briefly the male victim heard the woman screaming upstairs.

Despite her attempts to lock herself in the bathroom, McAndrew pulled her out and pushed her down the stairs before kicking her in the stomach.

Mr Allen said McAndrew used alcohol to cope with the psychological consequences of a difficult childhood. He had spent compensation he got for being physically abused while in care on drink and drugs and he and the woman had had to leave the centre early because residents were not allowed to form relationships.