Jealous Leeds boyfriend attacked partner when she refused to answer if ex lovers were 'better in bed'

Paul O’Donnell had been in a short-lived relationship with the woman but became fixated on her former lovers, wanting to know full details and quizzing her on “whether they were better than him in bed”.

Leeds Crown Court was told that the 43-year-old had taken a day off work on April 20 this year, and had drunk a bottle of alcohol at their home on Carrfield Road, Barwick-in-Elmet, when he began asking the woman about her ex partners.

Seeing he was becoming agitated, she left the room but he grabbed her by the throat. When she locked herself in the bathroom he began kicking it down, prosecutor Matthew Stewart told the court. He later grabbed her by her hair and slammed her head into a wall.

Two days later, they got into an argument and he used her phone to message one of her former boyfriends, pretending to be her, and asking if he had any sex videos involving the former partner and the woman.

He then attacked her several times, grabbing her the jaw and pinning her down, when she refused to answer questions about her previous relationships. She managed to escape and tried to jump over a fence into neighbour’s garden but was dragged back by O’Donnell. He then pinned her down on the pavement when she later left the property.

O’Donnell eventually admitted two counts of intentional strangulation. He has eight previous convictions for 16 offences, including violence ad threats.

Mitigating, Benjamin Campbell said O’Donnell had been held on remand since his arrest in April. He is a father of five, had entered “relatively early” guilty pleas and that he had a job as a painter and decorator waiting for him when he is released.

Judge Ray Singh jailed him for 28 months and told him: “It was a short-lived relationship with incidents of domestic violence. You were under the influence of drink and carried it out in the victim’s own home.”

A restraining order to keep him away from the victim may be imposed at a later date, the court heard.