A drunken man who tried to murder a sleeping neighbour after a row over Covid has been jailed for 25 years.

Andrzej Kitrys stabbed his victim as she was begging for her life, telling her chillingly: "You're doing well. You're doing well."

The courageous woman fought the 36-year-old attacker off and fled to a neighbour's home in Kirby Road, Dartford.

She later told police she feared she was going to die during the frenzied attack involving at least 15 stab wounds in October 2022.

Judge Charles MacDonald KC said Kitrys had been a “vaccine denier” and had been ordered to leave the shared house after testing positive for Covid.

“I do not accept he has shown any remorse,” said the judge. “This was a very serious crime.”

He ruled that Kitrys was dangerous and passed an extended jail sentence of 25 years.

“I didn't want my family getting a phone call to say that I had died..."

Kitrys was given an immediate 21-year sentence and the judge then ordered he serve an extra four years on licence when he is released.

Maidstone Crown Court heard the victim telling her attacker: "You changed my life by stabbing me and telling me you wanted to kill me.

"I cannot get the thought of you having a knife, pointing it towards my head and stabbing me, out of my head.

"All I could think was, I am going to die. I felt like I was just going to give up on myself, but I am lucky I decided to fight for myself.

“I didn't want my family getting a phone call to say that I had died."

Since the jury's decision, Kitrys has told a probation officer that he has accepted the verdict, describing the attack as "a disgusting crime that should never have happened".

The court heard how a week before the attack, Kitrys sent a message saying he had tested positive for Covid.

Prosecutor Don Ramble said in the days prior to the attack, the victim and another resident, Andrzej Nowek, met to find a way to ask Kitrys to leave as he had not been vaccinated for Covid.

"Just after 11.45pm on October 8 she went to bed and fell asleep. Terrifyingly, she woke up at around 2am to find she was no longer alone in her bedroom. Someone was by her bed," he said.

She asked in English: "Who are you and what are you doing in my bedroom?"

“The occupier let her in and she was now safe. He then tried to stem the flow of blood from her wounds with paper towels..."

Kitrys is alleged to have replied: "The gentleman upstairs, I killed him already with a knife and now I am going to kill you and then I will kill myself."

The prosecutor told the jury that Mr Nowek was "very much alive but sleeping, oblivious to what was happening".

She claimed Kitrys was sitting astride her as she grabbed the knife and threw it across the room.

Mr Ramble added: "She then ran as fast as she could. She ran across the road and rang the doorbell of one address but there was no answer.

"She tried another, desperately banging on the door to be let in. The occupier let her in and she was now safe. He then tried to stem the flow of blood from her wounds with paper towels."

"This dangerous individual inflicted a violent and cowardly assault on a vulnerable woman in her own bed...”

The prosecutor said she was then to King's College Hospital and was treated for her injuries to her head, chest, arm and back of her left hand.

Armed police then broke into the house and found Kitrys lying in bed, watching TV.

The jury found him guilty of attempted murder.

Detective Constable Rebecca Ward, of the Kent and Essex Serious Crime Directorate, said: "This dangerous individual inflicted a violent and cowardly assault on a vulnerable woman in her own bed.

"The victim bravely fought him off and fled the scene thinking only of seeking help to protect the other tenant in the house.

"Kitrys was swiftly arrested by our firearms officers and is now, quite rightly, starting a very long prison sentence."