A JEALOUS thug broke into and trashed his ex-partner’s house while on police bail for an earlier assault in which he had punched and bit her.

Kenny Stilgoe, 35, previously of Wigton Road, Carlisle had been in a relationship with the woman and, on 8th December, the pair had been to a pub. After a male waved at the woman during their walk home, Stilgoe became jealous, shouted and took her phone.

He pushed her to the ground, causing no injury, but worse was to follow when they returned to her house when his erratic behaviour caused her to feel isolated and scared. “She describes him switching between laughter and and anger, and that frightened her,” prosecutor Kim Whittlestone told Carlisle Crown Court.

Stilgoe grabbed the woman, dragged her around and closed the front door, leaving her feeling that she was unable to leave. She did manage to get out and go to a neighbour’s house but there was no answer and she returned home.

Stilgoe then punched and bit the woman on her left cheek, causing bruising. “She described it being with a lot of force and caused her significant pain,” said Miss Whittlestone.

The prosecutor told how he also took hold of her leg and dragged her out from under a table before, finally, putting his hands around her neck and pushing her into the back of a sofa causing her to choke. “She went all hot and dizzy,” she told the court.

After the woman went to bed, Stilgoe stated when she woke the next morning “oh my God, what have I done?” but told her to cover injuries with make-up.

She reported what had happened to police and told Stilgoe their relationship was over.

He was banned from contacting the woman as part of his bail but he did make contact and she briefly agreed to see him. But when his behaviour didn’t change she told him, on 3rd January, she had had enough.

His response hours later was to break into her home, a crime she discovered when she returned and found a kitchen window had been broken. “The inside of the premises had been ransacked and significant, deliberate damage had been caused,” said Miss Whittlestone.

A bird cage, electrical appliance, Christmas tree and wide screen television were damaged and smashed. So, too, was a fish tank which had contained an axolotl amphibian, although this was rescued.

Milk had been poured over the walls, ceilings and floors of several rooms. Stilgoe was identified as the culprit after leaving a mobile phone and footprint at the scene. “It is clear the impact this has had on her has been significant,” Miss Whittlestone said of the woman.

Stilgoe admitted common assault, actual bodily harm assault, intentional suffocation and burglary. The court heard he had 37 past offences on his record. These included eight for violence, one being an unprovoked assault on an 80-year-woman at a Carlisle bingo hall.

Stilgoe, a father of four, was said by his barrister to have expressed remorse and insight, describing time in prison on remand as an “eye-opener”.

Recorder Tony Hawks also noted he had mental health difficulties and a potentially serious medical condition.

“You are a highly jealous and possessive man,” said the judge, who called his offending “disgraceful”. “You broke into her house and trashed it; smashed it up. It is absolutely disgusting behaviour. That was her home. I don’t know what you thought you were going to achieve by doing that.”

Recorder Hawks jailed Stilgoe for a total of 30 months and banned him from contacting the woman indefinitely.