A MAN who started to strangle his ex-girlfriend at their Kidderminster flat after she ended their relationship has been jailed.

David Southall, aged 35, called his partner Julia May and told her he had taken the X-Box she had saved up to buy for her son for Christmas and sold it to get money for car repairs, Worcester Crown Court was told.

She told him their three-year relationship was over and he shouldn't go back to the flat in Park Lane, Kidderminster but just nine days later, on October 19 last year, he called on her.

Prosecutor Richard Franck told the court that she let him in and he demanded money. He took £145 from her handbag though she told him it was the only money she had.

Mr Franck said: "He pushed her onto the bed and started to strangle her with such pressure she had difficulty breathing.

"She tried to get him to stop but she was just making choking noises."

He stopped and went out of the room, telling her to pack his bags. She picked up her phone to dial 999 but cancelled the call as he went back into the room and saw her. He grabbed the phone and smashed it against the wall, Mr Franck said.

Miss May had to be treated in hospital for bruising to her neck and a broken finger sustained in the assault.

Southall pleaded guilty to theft of the games console, damaging the phone, theft of the money and assault causing actual bodily harm.

Babur Adris, defending, said Southall had been invited to the flat and had gone to get money he was owed from a joint tax credits claim. He said Miss May started shouting at him and punching him but he accepted he had gone beyond self-defence.

Mr Adris said Southall had a long record of previous convictions but mostly from stealing to pay for his drug habit and none for violence.

He said Southall, whose current address is HMP Woodhill, Milton Keynes, is serving a 39 month sentence he was given in Birmingham in February for burglary. He hoped to use his time in prison to finally get free of drugs.

Judge Nicolas Cartwright said it was an incident of domestic violence and a serious offence.

He gave Southall a total of two months to add to the existing sentence. He also issued a restraining order banning him from contact with Miss May or to go near her home for five years.