A MAN is facing Christmas behind bars after twice attacking his ex-partner.

Ashley Martyn Brown has already spent 198 days on an electronic tag, Durham Crown Court heard, which is the legal equivalent of a three-month prison sentence.

However, Judge Christopher Prince said Brown deserved jail and instructed prosecuting lawyer Michael Cahill to investigate whether there was any way he could impose an immediate prison sentence.

Later, the court heard this might be possible and Brown, of Cotsford Park Estate, Horden, will be sentenced later this week.

Brown first attacked the woman, with whom he had a two-and-a-half-year relationship, in March last year, the court heard.

Hours after the woman had told Brown she wanted to break off their relationship, the two got into an argument and he punched her twice to the face, pressed her onto a bed, spat at her, grabbed her throat and said: “I’d rather kill you than anyone else have you”, Mr Cahill said.

The second attack came on April 29 this year, three months after the two had separated, when they were walking home from a friend’s house.

Brown grabbed the woman and threw her to the floor, leading to a scuffle which left the woman with grazes to her face, chin, wrist and knuckles.

A witness reported seeing Brown push the woman on a number of occasions and when police arrived they found Brown with his hands around her neck, the court heard.

Brown initially claimed she had repeatedly fallen over while he was trying to walk her home, but later pleaded guilty to common assault.

Jane Waugh, mitigating, said Brown was a young man who was still capable of being helped and turning his life around, had a good work ethic and had an offer of work at a Hartlepool butcher’s starting in the New Year.

“He’s a young man and with the right guidance a difference can be made in his life,” she said.

In a letter to the court, Brown said he was sorry for what he had put his ex-partner through and felt no animosity towards her.

However, Judge Prince totally rejected his claim of remorse, saying he had dragged out the court case and deserved to go straight to prison for what he had done.

Six months behind bars was the proper sentence for the offence, he said.

The case will return to Durham Crown Court on Thursday or Friday.