A MAN has been jailed for punching his girlfriend and then throttling her as she lay on the sofa.

Marc Bone hit his girlfriend Nadine Gregson so hard that she was left with a fracture at the top of her jaw, Winchester Crown Court heard.

The 26-year-old, of Edgehill Close, Buckskin, appeared in the dock for sentence having admitted assault occasioning actual bodily harm.

The court heard that the couple had been together for nine months when the assault took place.

Siobhan Linsley, prosecuting, said Bone had become increasingly agitated during the relationship, as they were effectively homeless, “sofa surfing” with friends in Basingstoke.

On the night of Saturday, April 19, Bone had drunk a bottle of Bacardi while his girlfriend lay on the sofa, at a male friend’s house, the court heard.

Miss Linsley said Bone had been thanking his girlfriend for the support she had given him when there was “a complete change in his demeanour”.

She said: “He got up off the sofa, squatted so he was level with her and began to get really angry.

“She said to him not to start and his reaction to this was to punch her in the left eye.”

He then apologised, but when she tried to edge away he started to strangle her and only stopped when she began to pass out, the court heard.

She ran out of the house in her pyjamas to another friend who took a photograph of her injuries.

Bone, who handed himself in to police, had been jailed for four years in 2010 for an assault on a partner who refused to have sex with him, the court heard. He punched and throttled her, Miss Linsley said.

Sinead Willox, defending, said Bone was sorry for the attack and was willing to seek help for his problems with anger, alcohol and drug abuse.

Judge Susan Evans told Bone that throttling Miss Gregson “was an incredibly dangerous thing to do”. She added: “She would have been terrified – she must have been because she ran from that property bare foot and in her pyjamas.”

She sentenced him to 32 months imprisonment, with half served in custody and half on licence.