A MAN who pushed his girlfriend to her death from the top of a multi-storey car park was yesterday jailed for eight years.

Shaun Foley, 45, was found guilty of the manslaughter of Teresa Parkin, 29, after a two week trial at Exeter Crown Court.

Ms Parkin, originally from Colburn, North Yorkshire, died of head, chest and back injuries after falling about 80ft in the incident in Torquay, Devon, on June 10, last year.

Foley was not present in court yesterday to hear the sentence after refusing to leave his cell.

His barrister told the judge he had maintained since his arrest that Ms Parkin had jumped to her death after becoming upset about her tenyear- old son.

Judge Graham Cottle described the idea she had committed suicide as absurd.

Foley was found guilty of manslaughter after the jury saw CCTV footage of the pair arguing in the car park before disappearing out of view.

Moments later, a distraught Foley could be seen running back into view and looking over the railings of the car park.

The jury found he had not deliberately planned to kill her and acquitted him of murder, but said he was responsible for her death.

In passing sentence, Judge Cottle said Foley had committed an appallingly dangerous act that led directly to her death. “It was an intentional and deliberate act to put her over the railings,” he added.

Judge Cottle also said Foley must have used considerable force to push Ms Parkin to her death, considering her height and that of the railings.

“The evidence available of events leading up to the offence shows you behaving in a violent and thoroughly unpleasant way,” he added.

Martin Meeke, for Foley, said his client had acted with rank stupidity when drunk but had loved Ms Parkin.

He said: “It was clear it was not a planned attack but something he instantly regretted. He went for help rather than running to hide.”

In passing sentence, the judge told the court he had to consider Foley’s not guilty plea and the fact he had previously been involved in a robbery that had used violence.