A CRACK cocaine addict who achieved notoriety by appearing on the television documentary ‘Benefits Street’ has been jailed for two and-a-half years for a series of assaults on his former partner.

Neil Maxwell, 37, threw the victim down the stairs at the home they shared in Stockton and also threw a television at her.

The 37-year-old, who had been smoking a legal high called ‘Spice’, also locked the woman in for several hours, leading to a charge of false imprisonment, which he admitted along with other offences including common assault, assault by beating and destroying property.

Matthew Bean, prosecuting at Teesside Crown Court, detailed a number of incidents involving the couple – both drug takers – in July and August this year.

He described a “sustained and repeated assault” on the victim, who went to a cashpoint for money to buy crack cocaine for Maxwell, only for him to accuse her of theft.

One time the woman tried to climb out of a window, but Maxwell pulled her back, punching her in the face.

She also had a car seat thrown at her and a can of pineapple juice poured over her head.

Maxwell, previously of Whitwell Close, Stockton, originally denied the assaults and claimed he tried to stop her leaving in order to self-harm.

Robert Mochrie, mitigating, said Maxwell had “ramped up” his daily drug use following his appearance on Benefits Street and had been inadvertently encouraged to consume more because of the attention it brought him.

He said: “His local notoriety brought him to the attention of people who constantly wanted to party with him.”

Judge Sean Morris said Maxwell’s life revolved around drugs and he had been responsible for a catalogue of offending “costing the country a fortune”.

The judge said the defendant had turned into a “woman beater” and made him subject to an indefinite restraining order.