Telford man, 34, jailed for jealous attack on girlfriend
A Telford man who attacked his girlfriend after a dispute about her relationship with another man has been jailed.
Gareth Johnstone, 34, of West Street in St Georges, dragged his victim across a room by her arms and threatened to throw her down the stairs.
Johnstone was jailed for 20 weeks at Shrewsbury Crown Court having admitted a charge of assaulting his victim by beating.
Judge Peter Barrie said that Johnstone had acted in "jealousy and anger" and it had been a frightening incident and the victim had been covered in bruises.
The court heard Johnstone had been in custody since his arrest and would be released almost immediately having served his sentence while on remand.
Johnstone will remain on post-release supervision for 12 months.
He had admitted slapping his girlfriend during the row over what had happened with another man at a party when she returned home drunk.
Johnstone was said to have pushed and pulled her about and held her against a wardrobe and had his hands on her throat shouting abuse at her.
He had faced a series of allegations linked to the incident on June 6 this year, but formal not guilty verdicts were recorded on the other charges.
The prosecution accepted Johnstone's plea, having been told his girlfriend had been reluctant to come to court.
Mr Richard Franck, for Johnstone, said his client accepted slapping the victim in the row which went on over a number of hours.
