Violent Wakefield bully strangled ex-girlfriend until she blacked out - after she tried to leave him

Obsessive roofer Nathan Stokes put his hands around the woman’s neck, choking her until she lost consciousness in an incident on June 3.

After she came round, he strangled her for a second time. The victim recalled him saying: “Yeah, you will go back to sleep.”

The 31-year-old, of Gordon Street, Wakefield, admitted one count of intentional strangulation and was sentenced at Leeds Crown Court yesterday (August 27).

The court heard that Stokes, who had been in a relationship with the victim for two years, thought she had been “laughing at him with her friends”.

Prosecuting, Celine Kart said: “She told the defendant that his behaviour was making her feel miserable and she didn’t want to be with him anymore.

“The defendant followed her, pushed her up against a fence and grabbed her by the throat. She remembers struggling to breathe. She then woke up on the floor and was curled up in ball with the defendant standing over her.”

Stokes strangled the woman for a second time, leaving her “fearing for her life”, before walking away.

Ms Kart said: “It was an on-and-off relationship, which was very toxic with him being controlling and obsessive. He made her feel paranoid and she worried about seeing him in public.”

Dan Lee, for the defence, said that Stokes had been drinking and had not slept, adding: “He accepts he has anger issues and needs to get on top of his self-control. He regrets what happened and is sorry.”

The court heard that Stokes had five convictions for 10 previous offences, including one domestic assault in June last year for which he was jailed. It meant that his most recent offence was committed while he was on licence.

Judge Mushtaq Khokhar said: “This offence was committed at a time when you had fallen out with each other. She made it clear she did not want to continue the relationship but, for whatever reason, you didn’t want her to end it.

“You put your hands on her throat and strangled her for a sufficiently long period of time for her to lose consciousness.”

He jailed him for 21 months and imposed a restraining order, preventing him from seeing his former partner.