A man who became controlling and aggressive to his partner a few months into their relationship was said to have a history of domestic-related offences on his record.

Matthew Barnett was jailed after a judge told him he appeared to find “violence and intimidation to women a hard habit to break.”

Durham Crown Court heard that Barnett was faced with charges of controlling or coercive behaviour in a relationship, four counts each of assault by battery and criminal damage, plus one of assaulting an emergency worker.

All arose from what became a volatile relationship with a woman from Crook, County Durham, between January 1 and July 13 this year.

The Northern Echo: Matthew Barnett jailed at Durham Crown Court for violence and intimidation to ex-partner

Despite originally denying the charges, the 45-year-old defendant, of East Calder, near Livingston in West Lothian, Scotland, changed his pleas to guilty on November 2, with a trial due to start on Wednesday next week.

Jonathan Gittins, prosecuting, said the victim described the relationship beginning “positively”, but becoming “volatile” due to the defendant's jealousy.

Barnett was said to have made repeated accusations of her having a relationship with a third party, put a hold on her using social media, controlled what clothing she would wear and threw out some of her personal items.

He also placed a tracker device on her phone and deleted her social media contacts, controlling who she went out with and where she went.

Mr Gittins said Barnett made her change her phone number and sent accusations to the woman’s work place over false relationships he claimed she was involved with at the time.

Barnett was said to have thrown a glass at his partner in a pub on one occasion.

Although it missed her, hitting a wall, he stormed out, and when she got home and threatened to phone the police, he tackled her and took her to the ground.

He then took a fork from a kitchen draw and tried to stab his own neck, but his partner put her hand in the way to prevent him doing it, causing her fingers to be stabbed in the process.

In another incident he was abusive to her while drinking at home, punching her lip and grabbing her arm, before snatching her phone and stamping on it, before leaving.

On his return the next morning he noticed his partner’s face was swollen and he claimed it had only been, “a back hander” as,  if it had been a full punch, she would have, “gone through the wall”.

Mr Gittins said in another incident at the house, when he was drinking, Barnett received a message annoying him, so he punched the tv set, damaging it, pushed the woman to the ground and left the property.

A further incident, following a row in a pub in Durham, saw Barnett throw a can of lager at the woman, hitting her on the cheek while waiting at a bus stop in the city to go home.

On arriving home, he pushed her into a table, causing bruising, and smashed her phone on a radiator.

Members of the victim’s family then arrived and told Barnett to leave before calling the police.

The defendant subsequently contacted his ex-partner and urged her not to pursue her complaints against him, even threatening to send “people” who he was with, in a pub in Edinburgh, to come to her home to, “do a hit”, on her and her family.

Upon his arrest at Durham Police Station, Barnett did a reverse head butt into the face of an officer escorting him to a cell, causing swelling around the victim's eye.

In her impact statement, extracts of which were read to the court, Barnett’s now ex-partner described him having, “ripped her lift apart”.

She said she had taken time off work and felt anxious and isolated, “extremely fearful” of the possible repercussions of reporting his violence, leading to the likelihood of panic attacks.

Barnett was said to have 12 convictions for 26 offences, several of a domestic nature with former partners in Scotland.

Tony Davis, in mitigation, said the defendant has had a period in custody and was aware of the reality of a prison sentence, having had, “the good sense” to eventually plead guilty.

Mr Davis said his client has had time to reflect while in prison and hoped to return to the West Lothian area, upon his release, but has learned his house is to be taken from him by the local authority.

But he does have qualifications in pylon maintenance requiring him to move around the country.

Mr Davis said that was a “contributory factor” in his behaviour during the relationship, when he was working away from home.

He added that the background to the offending was, "the copious drinking” by both Barnett and his partner, “which was never going to lead to an amicable relationship.”

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Judge James Adkin told Barnett he engaged in controlling and coercive behaviour over a six-month period, “motivated by an irrational jealousy about her seeing other people, resorting to violence on many occasions.”

He imposed a total 29-month prison sentence and made Barnett subject of a seven-year restraining order, forbidding him from contacting or approaching his now ex-partner.

Judge Adkin told the defendant: “Your previous convictions, particularly in Scotland, demonstrate to me that using violence against, and intimidating women, is a habit you find hard to break.”