A MAN nearly strangled his lover after she ended their relationship.

John Padget, 23, grabbed Rachel Vickers round the throat in a fit of anger after the pair met at a beauty spot.

Padget had become unreasonably jealous, suspecting she was seeing someone else, Deborah Sherwin, prosecuting, told Teesside Crown Court.

He had received a police caution prior to the assault for pushing Miss Vickers down two flights of stairs and kicking her as she lay on the ground.

On April 3, after having left Padget days earlier to return to live with her parents, Miss Vickers agreed to go to a park in Bishop Middleham, County Durham, to talk things over.

There, she told him she did not want to see him again, at which point Padget began threatening her and a struggle ensued.

"She fell to the ground and Padget sat astride her with his hands on her throat. He began squeezing and shouting, 'Hurry up and die'," said Miss Sherwin.

"She was finding it hard to breathe and thinks she passed out at one point."

Padget left after passing motorist Katherine Fairley shouted at him.

Following his arrest, Padget made phone calls to Miss Vickers and wrote a letter pleading with her to drop the charges.

Jamie Hill, for Padget, said he had suffered an "inappropriate emotional response" to the breakdown of the relationship.

Padget, of Beechwood Street, Sunderland, admitted assault occasioning actual bodily harm and two counts of witness intimidation.

Jailing him for two years, Peter Fox said he had become "dangerously obsessive". He awarded Ms Fairley £250 from public funds for her actions.