A JEALOUS boyfriend who attacked his partner three times and trashed her home in Newton Abbot has been banned from returning to Devon.

Jason Moffatt was so drunk when he carried out the attacks that he could not remember them afterwards. He throttled his girlfriend until she thought she would pass out and hit her so hard in the face she was left with wobbly teeth.

The couple had known each other for four years but only been in an on-off relationship for eight months, during which Moffatt became increasingly paranoid and jealous, leading him to make false allegation of seeing other men.

He smashed windows and televisions and left a trail of blood across the kitchen floor after returning on his own after the couple argued during a night out. His partner got home at 4am to find £6,910 worth of damage.

He was arrested but released and less than a month later they argued again while drinking in the Union Inn and this time she went home early, leaving him drinking in the pub for another three hours.

He attacked her when he got home, hitting her in the face and strangling her as he straddled her on the ground. He went on to assault her for a third time and damage her phone 17 days later.

Moffatt, aged 39, previously of Church Road, Newton Abbot, but now living in Runcorn, Cheshire, admitted strangulation, two assaults and two offences of criminal damage.

He was jailed for two years, suspended for two years, curfewed and put on an alcohol tag for six months and ordered to attend a ‘building better relationships’ course by Judge Stephen Climie at Exeter Crown Court.

The judge ordered him to pay £2,000 compensation order and imposed a restraining order which banned him from contacting the victim for seven years or entering Devon for two years.

He told him: 'You have a history of abusing women and for two or three months this year you abused your partner, primarily because of your abuse of alcohol. I suspect both parties drank too much to some extent, but that does not excuse your behaviour.'

Mr Michael Brown, prosecuting, said the Moffatt became paranoid and jealous when he was drunk and caused almost £7,000 to the victim’s home during the first incident on April 6, which happened after the couple had been drinking at the White Hart and Wetherspoons.

The most serious assault happened on May 2 after they had been to the Union Inn, where Moffatt’s behaviour was so abusive that his partner went home. He attacked her after arriving back three hours later.

She suffered an injury to her mouth and feared for her life when he put his hands around her neck and squeezed hard. She managed to kick him off her and lock herself in the bathroom where she called the police.

The final attack was on May 19 when they spent the day at home together drinking and there was an argument in which he wrestled with her and damaged her phone.

She fled the house in the Bradley area on Newton Abbot screaming for help and neighbours called the police. She wrote an impact statement saying the abuse had a profound effect on her.

Mr Martin Salloway, defending, said Moffatt has already spent three months in custody, which has forced him to remain abstinent from alcohol. He is now determined to address the issues that have led to him offending.

He is returning to his father’s home in Runcorn where he plans to find work so he can pay compensation for the damage he caused.