A BULLYING boyfriend choked his partner to the brink of unconsciousness during a row about a box of chocolates, a court heard.

Gary Drummond pressed a finger or his thumb on the throat of the woman and left her fighting for breath and unable to talk.

The Boxing Day attack only ended when their teenage daughter heard what was happening and barged into the bedroom to stop it.

In a personal impact statement, the victim said: "If my daughter had not been there, I think he'd have killed me.

"I'm absolutely sickened. He didn't think twice about attacking me with my daughters in the house. I honestly thought I was gone."

Drummond, 50, of Roslyn Street, Darlington, admitted assault occasioning actual bodily harm, and received a six-month suspended prison sentence.

The court heard that Drummond - who was also ordered to carry out 50 hours of rehabilitation activity - has a "lengthy" previous record which stretches to more than 120 offences.

Prosecutor Paul Abrahams said the couple had been together for "many years" without any problems, but on December 26, he appeared to be "spoiling for an argument", and it started over a box of chocolates.

He stormed upstairs, pulled a bedroom door off its hinges and smashed a shelf off the wall.

As he was trying to re-hang the door, his partner asked him to leave, and he started hurling abuse at her.

In her statement, the woman said he was "getting more radged" and when she tried to call the police, he dived on her, knocked her onto the bed, and used his body-weight to pin her down.

Mr Abrahams said: "At this point, the main part of the assault took place. He pressed his finger or thumb into her throat and neck, and maintained pressure.

"She found it increasingly difficult to breathe and started to panic, and knew there was a chance she would pass out.

"She describes it seemed like an age before her daughter came into the room. At that point, the defendant just stopped."