A JEALOUS man who kicked, headbutted, throttled and punched his girlfriend, then stubbed a cigarette out on her after a row over a text message, has been jailed for two years.
Mark Webster, aged 32, chased Laura White, 34, when she fled to seek refuge in the flat next door, then pushed a dressing gown through the letterbox and threatened to set fire to it, Sheffield Crown Court heard.
He had taken exception to a message he found on her mobile phone and flew into a rage accusing her of seeing another man.
Jailing him and imposing a five-year restraining order, Judge Robert Moore said: “This was a dreadful and persistent attack. You made it worse by trying to follow her into your neighbour’s flat into which she had escaped.
Stephanie Hollis, prosecuting, said the couple had been in a relationship for five years which was troubled by violent and verbal abuse and Webster was ‘jealous and controlling’.
On the night of the attack on November 18, they had been drinking when Webster started the argument.
“He accused her of being in a relationship with another man and became abusive,” Miss Hollis said.
Webster kicked out at Miss White causing her to fall and she hurt her back, but she got up and ran to the bedroom.
Miss Hollis said Webster followed and punched her in the face before trying to smother her with a pillow.
She managed to escape but he pushed her into the TV, then grabbed her by the throat and ‘squeezed her windpipe’, Miss Hollis added.
Miss White pushed past him and as she did so he used a lit cigarette to burn her shoulder.
She ran to her next door neighbour’s flat and he rang the emergency services.
“She was visibly upset and crying,” Miss Hollis told the court.
“By this stage he was at the door and shouted, ‘If I see you in the street, I’ll kill you’.”
The police arrived and Webster was arrested. Miss White had suffered extensive cuts, bruises and swelling.
Judith Seabourne, defending Webster, of Deer Park View, Stannington, said he had managed to kick a heroin and crack habit but replaced it with alcohol.
“He became jealous,” she said. “He very much regrets it and has asked for his remorse to be expressed.”
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