A TEENAGE killer who strangled his girlfriend was given a four-year prison sentence yesterday - after a court heard he was a victim of domestic violence.

Billy Clifton, from Darlington, had originally been charged with murder.

But in a highly unusual case, prosecutors accepted his guilty plea to the lesser charge of manslaughter because of the provocation of the physical and emotional abuse he had suffered at the hands of Rachael Littlefair.

Teesside Crown Court heard how 18-year-old Clifton felt trapped in a destructive relationship with Rachael, who was the mother of his 20-month-old daughter.

Rachael, 20, had already sought help from a psychiatrist for a temper which would see her fly into a rage at the slightest provocation.

The court was told that, in desperation, Clifton even turned to a life of crime in the hope of being sent to jail.

But when his attempts to escape failed, Clifton's temper exploded in a tragic outburst in August last year.

After strangling Rachael with his bare hands, he tied a ligature around her neck, stuffed a sock into her mouth and used wire to bind the body's wrists.

The court heard how Clifton and his partner had been at the Orange Festival in Darlington Market Place during the day, where they had been drinking.

They returned home to Lanethorpe Crescent, in Darlington, at around 10.20 pm where an argument started.

Neighbours reported hearing bickering and raised voices from the couple's house at around 11.15 pm.

After killing Rachael, Clifton told his brother what he had done before going to Darlington police station.

He told detectives that Rachael had hit him: "I grabbed her throat and face. I just lost it . . . I just felt like I needed to kill her - I had had enough."

Brian Forster, prosecuting, told the court that throughout their relationship the couple had argued. Clifton claimed he had never hit Rachael back.

Mr Forster said: "He described a relationship in which there had been repeated violence, repeated abuse and repeated trouble that clearly had not been seen by members of the public or family outside the relationship."

He described how, although the birth of her daughter had helped Rachael turn her life around, she had had a troubled past and that her family doctor had referred her to a psychiatrist.

According to consultant psychiatrist Dr Cesar Lengua, Clifton did not pose a general risk to the public. He said: "It is very probable, given the nature of the alleged physical and psychological abuse he suffered, that this constituted chronic trauma."

David Hatton, defending, said Clifton bore the unhappy hallmarks of a history of emotional and physical abuse.

"He started deliberately committing offences so he could get locked-up and get away from the strain of the relationship," he said.

"This history caused him on this fateful night to snap for no more than a moment or so, with devastating and tragic consequences."

Mr Hatton compared the case to those involving battered wives and asked Judge Peter Fox to show a measure of mercy in his sentence.

Sentencing Clifton, the judge said he had taken into account the defendant's age, and gave him credit for going to the police.

But the sentence angered Rachael's parents, Don and Lynn Littlefair.

They said: "How can they justify a sentence of four years imprisonment for our daughter's life, when only the other week someone got the same for stealing a mobile phone?"