A MAN who ended up in court three times for assaulting his girlfriend has been jailed.

David Lewis beat up Emma Lapping inside her home punching her on the sofa, then banging her head in the toilet and finally elbowing her in the eye in a bedroom, a court heard.

The pair had had a drinkfuelled row over who was to pay for alcohol, Newport Crown Court heard.

Miss Lapping retaliated during the May 22 attack sinking her teeth into his chest, but she ended up with a swollen face after he hit her with his elbow, the court heard.

Lewis, of Oakley Way, Caldicot, had already been convicted of assaulting his partner twice before, in March 2010 and June 2012, the court heard.

Sentencing the 38-year-old to 10 months in jail, Judge Rhys Rowlands told him: “This is a serious matter involving repeated attacks in her home on two previous occasions at your hands.

“This woman was in her home, not in a position to defend herself in her home and was left with very unpleasant injuries.”

Police were called to Miss Lapping’s home in Caldicot following reports of a noisy party at around 2am on May 22, the court heard.

They left having given them advice about noise, but a 999 call was later made after an argument then turned violent.

Philip Warren, for the defence, said Miss Lapping had not sought a restriction order against her partner, adding she did not want him to go to prison as she believed it would not help him.

The court heard that the relationship of 16 years had come to an end and Lewis had planned to move with his mother to break away from the relationship and the drinking.

Lewis pleaded guilty to assault occasioning actual bodily harm at a plea and case management hearing on July 19.

Judge Rowlands told him he would serve no more than half his sentence in jail and would then be released.