Woman feared she was going to die when Hartlepool man tried to strangle her with dog lead

Jeffery Allen, 40, threw the woman to the ground and punched her before wrapping the lead around her neck, Teesside Crown Court heard.

She feared she would die and is planning to move house after ending the relationship.

Allen also threatened his partner’s daughter with a curtain pole during the incident but luckily she was not hurt.

He faced prison after pleading guilty to actual bodily harm on his partner and common assault and threatening a person with a weapon in public against her daughter.

But the judge spared him after hearing how Allen has sought help for his alcohol issues with a local Christian organisation.

The offences happened after 11.30pm on April 14 when Allen returned home after drinking and walking the dog.

He flung his partner onto some grass when he couldn’t get past her.

Emma Atkinson, prosecuting, said: “The defendant straddled her, pinned her to the ground grabbing her collar bone and repeatedly punched her, she remembers two or three times.”

Her daughter and a friend tried to pull him off.

Miss Atkinson added: “The defendant got the dog lead and wrapped it around her throat at which point she thought she was going to die.”

In a victim personal statement, she said she had been left scared to go shopping or visit relatives and was unsure what Allen might do next.

Stephen Constantine, defending, said alcohol was at the root of Allen’s offending, adding this was his first conviction for violence.

But Mr Constantine said he had done something about it and shown a “determined effort” since May.

He said: “Mr Allen accepts that what he did was completely unacceptable.”

Judge Howard Crowson said it was a “persistent attack”, adding: “What you did on that day was entirely driven by your alcohol.

"She was certainly vulnerable while you were attacking her.”

But he continued: “I am however satisfied on the evidence that you have already begun to rehabilitate.”

Allen, of Whitby Street, Hartlepool, received an 18-month jail term, which was suspended for 18 months, and ordered to complete 120 hours of unpaid work.

He also received a five-year restraining order not to go within 50 metres of his former partner.

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