Jail for bully boyfriend who turned woman's life into a nightmare

David Lee kicked, punched, choked, bit and hurled abuse at the the mother of two of his five children on an almost a daily basis as his paranoid belief she was cheating on him got worse, a judge heard.

The attacks by the 36-year-old left her bruised from head to toe as the groundless obsession consumed him, Wolverhampton Crown court was told.

The couple had been in a relationship for almost eight years during which he was twice prosecuted for assaulting her but the violent behaviour became too much for her this year, explained Mr Nicholas Berry, prosecuting.

On February 1 after the defendant accused her once more of being unfaithful to him and she denied the allegation during another confrontation at her Wednesfield home, he declared: "I can tell from your face that you are lying," and hit her.

In the following week she was choked twice, once so forcefully she was sick, punched in the ribs, had one of her breasts grabbed "as if he was trying to pull it off her body," and repeatedly kicked with his shod feet, continued the prosecutor who added: "Usually the assaults occurred in the middle of the night after an argument."

Then on February 28 he launched himself on top of the terrified woman, biting her so hard his teeth cut through clothing and pierced the skin before repeatedly slapping her in the face and calling her foul names.

Soon afterwards he struck her again after complaining she was too slow making him a cup of tea. She alerted police and he was arrested the same day.

Ms Lisa Hancox, defending, said: "He has not tried in any way to water down what he did to this woman. He knows she should have left him a long time ago but things were allowed to get worse as the relationship spiralled out of control."

Lee, from Wednesbury Road, Walsall, who has a heroin habit as well as previous convictions involving 129 separate offences, pleaded guilty to assaulting his former partner twice on February 28 and harassing her between February 16 and March 1.

He was sent to prison and given a restraining order banning any contact with her for five years. Judge Dean Kershaw told him: "You behaved no better than a wild animal and this had a significant impact on her. You also have one of the worst records I have seen."