A "PREDATORY" sex offender who stabbed a lone woman in the throat in a deserted alleyway has been jailed for 10 years.

Darren Meredith, 36, targeted the woman at random in Newbridge, following a previous physical attack on his own mum and a sexual assault on another woman, a court heard.

Cardiff Judge David Miller said he had "virtually no victim empathy" and presented a significant risk of harm to the public, particularly women.

Judge Miller said the attack, which gave his victim a two by two centimetre gash in the throat, could have had "catastrophic consequences".

Meredith, of Hilary Road, Newbridge, continued to maintain his innocence despite being unanimously convicted of the GBH attack by a jury at the end of a trial at Newport Crown Court last month [October].

Jailing him for a decade, Judge Miller said: "You display a behaviour of a predatory nature.

"You are capable of impulsive behaviour and you have virtually no victim empathy."

The alleyway attack at Yew Tree Road took place on April 7, 2013, Cardiff Crown Court heard on Friday (October 31).

Judge Miller said there had a "very serious" and "escalating" pattern to his offending.

He added: "By stabbing her in the throat you intended causing serious harm.

"The consequences could have been catastrophic. You could have killed her.

"This was the second time you had attacked a woman at random and the third time you had attacked a woman, the first time being your mum."

He was sentenced for a common assault against his mother in Newbridge in 2013.

Meredith was also sentenced for a sexual assault on a woman in Cardiff in 2013.

Defence barrister Heath Edwards said in mitigation that his client had a "very limited" antecedent record.

He added the offence against his mother and the sexual offence were both of a "low level".

Judge Miller ordered that Meredith serves two thirds of his custodial sentence before he may be released.

He also gave him an additional five years on licence to be served after his release from prison.