Wakefield thug timed partner's toilet trips and accused her of looking at men on TV
He headbutted, slapped and spat at the woman
A Wakefield thug controlled his girlfriend with violence and even timed her when she used the toilet.
Declan Darling took over the woman’s finances and isolated her from friends and family, Leeds Crown Court heard.
The 24-year-old was jailed after admitting coercive and controlling behaviour and two counts of ABH.
Prosecutor Emma Handley said the couple started their relationship in January this year, but Darling began to accuse her of looking at other men.
He would say she was looking at them on TV and accuse her of being interested in men that she knew.
Darling confiscated her phone in February and would only let her speak to family for a short time.
When she left the house he would make her put her head down so as not to look at other men, and he would dictate what she wore, even throwing out any “tight-fitting” clothes.
He would time how long she was in the shower and the toilet, and criticise her constantly.
The woman also said Darling would take her bank card and spend her money on clothes and drugs, leaving her without money to buy basic food.
In February he attacked her, slapping and headbutting her.
He later attacked her again when they were staying at a hotel in Wakefield, when she finally told him she would not put up with his violence any longer.
He punched her and spat in her face. He was caught on CCTV lunging at her and she was left with visible injuries.
In a victim impact statement, read out by Ms Handley, the woman said she “lost everything”, including her family and friends because of Darling, and still finds herself putting he head down walking in public, such was his influence.
She described it as “mental, physical and financial abuse”.
Darling, who had lived in Wakefield but is now of no fixed address, appeared in court over a video link from HMP Leeds.
He spent much of the hearing smiling and shaking his head, which did not go unnoticed by Judge Penelope Belcher who said there was “nothing remotely funny” about his offending.
She told him: “It was serious, repeated, controlling behaviour. Violence was a regular feature.”
She jailed him for 40 months and activated 16 weeks of a previous suspended sentence he received for violence.
She also gave him a 10-year restraining order to keep him away from his ex partner.