A WIGTON man who grabbed his former partner 'by the throat' during a row on her doorstep has been jailed.

The woman assaulted by 27-year-old Thomas Miller later told police she did not want to make a complaint - but added: "I just don't want to but I know it won't stop until I do," Carlisle Crown Court heard.

Miller, of Greenacres, Wigton, admitted a common assault.

Prosecutor Tim Evans outlined how the defendant turned up drunk at the woman's home address on June 10 as she was putting her wheelie bin outside for collection.

The court was shown video footage of the assault taken by a concerned neighbour.

It showed Miller speaking to the woman and then losing his temper, angrily throwing over the wheelie bin.

He then chased the woman around her parked car and grabbed her - by the throat according to the prosecution. Miller was dragged away - still struggling - by the friend who drove him to the address.

Mr Evans said the neighbour who made the recording had visited the victim to check she was okay.

Although the victim did not make a statement for police, she told the neighbour she was "sick of it all."

She said she had not wanted to cooperate with the police because she did not want to be seen as "a grass."

"The complainant was plainly scared of the defendant," said Mr Evans.

At the time of the assault, the court heard, Miller was under a suspended jail sentence - imposed in February, 2020, for two violent assaults - an assault causing actual bodily harm and a wounding offence.

He was also recently convicted of drink driving.

Matthew Hopkins, for Miller, said that three days before the assault on his ex-partner the defendant was made redundant from a job and this came on top of his relationship with his partner breaking down.

Responding to something "provocative" she said to him, he became emotional. When he went to her home, he did not intend any violence, said the barrister.

"He simply lost his temper in the heat of the moment," said Mr Hopkins, adding that there had been no attempt to strangle the woman. The barrister added that Miller was recently stabbed - in the leg and the abdomen.

Fearing that he may encounter associates of his attacker in jail, he was "terrified" of custody, added Mr Hopkins. who conceded that the defendant had a problem with alcohol.

Judge Nicholas Barker told Miller that a court had previously given him a second chance.

Referring to his previous violence, the drink driving, and the assault on his former partner, the judge said: "Not a lot of learning has gone on between January and June.

"You are still getting drunk, still not thinking correctly and you are still behaving in a violent way."

A "line had been crossed", said the judge as he jailed Miller for 28 weeks.