A FORMER Hampshire police officer who subjected a mother to a two-year nightmare before trying to kill her has been jailed for 18 years.

Alan Hutchinson, 63, terrorised the woman, using an alias – David Barrett – to threaten her and her family via email.

The real Hutchinson then posed as her protector from the fictitious Barrett, duping her into various sexual acts, before he tried to kill her as his story unravelled.

Judge Samuel Wiggs described it as “sadistic sexual attack” that almost claimed the mother’s life.

“Barrett” set depraved sexual tasks for the mother and fabricated a detective agency that was investigating her husband.

With the police becoming suspicious, the final episode came on March 11 last year as Hutchinson fooled the woman into waiting for him blindfolded in her house.

After forcing his victim into further degrading sexual acts, he smashed her over the head with a claw hammer and tried to choke her.

She managed to free herself by biting the arm around her neck and fled next door. Hutchinson was found bleeding in the house after trying to commit suicide.

Police and prosecutors described the case as one of the most bizarre and complicated they had ever investigated.

They were staggered by the astonishing lengths Hutchinson went to in order to feed his perverted fantasies for more than two years.

DC Vanessa Moyle said: “This whole two-year episode was very distressing for the victim. It was only her strong will and determination not to die that enabled her to escape from this evil and dangerous man.”

The victim, who cannot be named for legal reasons, said the ordeal had “ripped through the very heart” of her family.”

Hutchinson, who retired from Hampshire Police in 1991 and now lives in Poole, had previously admitted attempted murder and also a separate charge of causing the woman to engage in sexual activity without consent.

He will remain a registered sex offender for the rest of his life.