A MAN threw a can of beer at his girlfriend’s head after she slapped him during their tempestuous on/off relationship.

Newport Crown Court heard that Bradley McCoy from Blackwood also strangled the woman, gave her a black eye with “a back-hander” and smashed up her iPhone.

Jason Howells, prosecuting, said that when the defendant was arrested in May following the most recent in a catalogue of assaults, he told the police: “She slapped me so I threw a can at her.

“F*** her! I will murder her when I get out.

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“The officers took that threat to be serious and arrested him for threats to kill and cautioned him.

“His reply was, ‘I’m not being f****** serious.’ There were no further charges in relation to that matter.”

Factory worker McCoy admitted intentional strangulation, assault occasioning actual bodily harm, assault by beating and two counts of criminal damage.

The second criminal damage involved him destroying her car key after he threw it on tarmac outside her home.

Some of the offences, which took place between March 16 and May 21, occurred when he was “intoxicated”.

The complainant made a victim impact statement in which she described being left “numb” and enduring sleepless nights.

McCoy had destroyed the £329 iPhone and the cost of replacing the car key was £180.

The defendant, 25, of Llwyn-on Road, had one previous conviction for possession of cocaine.

McCoy’s barrister Christopher Evans asked the court to give his client credit for his guilty pleas.

“The pre-sentence report sets out his frequent alcohol and drug misuse, on weekends in particular when associating with peers,” his lawyer revealed.

“He started using cocaine when he was 20 years of age.”

Mr Evans added that the defendant had been drinking four to eight cans of alcohol a day but had “sobered up” while being held on remand in prison.

He urged the judge to pass a suspended sentence as he claimed there was a “realistic prospect of rehabilitation”.

But Recorder John Philpotts said McCoy’s crimes were so serious that only a custodial sentence could be justified.

The defendant was jailed for 12 months and was made the subject of a five-year restraining order.