A dad who beat up his girlfriend in front of their young son has been jailed.
Ashley McGrath, 33, chased Liberty Munro from their caravan before pulling her to the floor and putting his knee on her neck at Marton Mere Holiday Park in Blackpool, Lancashire.
Moments before the terrifying assault in June this year he told their nine-year-old son: "This is not what you do to a woman", Sefton Magistrates' Court heard.
During the assault, McGrath also punched Ms Munro in the face saying: "I am going to kill you."
He eventually let her go when she pleaded with him to stop saying she loved him.
She suffered bruising and swelling to her face around her left eye and bruising to her neck and arm plus a scratch on her foot.
In a statement to the police, Ms Munro said: "I have no idea how long it lasted but I thought it was never-ending. It made me feel bad about our son. I was in shock, I still am in shock."
She added: "When I first met Ashley I had a good social life. But he would act funny with me if I ever tried to go out. I lost a lot of friends.
"No one has the right to assault me or to make me feel like I am going to be assaulted."
McGrath, from Seaforth, near Liverpool, was jailed for 10 months after he admitted assault occasioning actual bodily harm and criminal damage to Ms Munro's mobile phone.
Prosecutors accepted his not guilty pleas to damage the victim's Volkswagen Polo car and to a formal charge of making a threat to kill.
Edward Handley, prosecuting, said that the attack happened after the couple had spent the evening watching live entertainment and cabaret put on by the holiday park.
He told the court: "The defendant and Miss Munro carried on drinking but she could tell that his behaviour was turning. She decided to go back to the caravan and go to bed.
"But after he returned the couple had an argument in the living room area. Ms Munro was concerned about their son being in the caravan, however, the defendant said to him, 'This is not what you do to a woman.'
"At some point, he pulled Ms Munro to the floor. She said she managed to jump out of the side window of the caravan but realised she did not have her phone so she ran back in to get her phone and then went straight back away from the caravan.
"The defendant caught up with her and took her phone and smashed it.
He then pinned her to the ground. He put his knee on her neck and punched her in the face. He said at that point, 'I am going to kill you.'
"She pleaded with him to stop and let her go. She said she told him she loved him and she said 'something must have clicked' because he stopped."
Ms Munro later decided to give their relationship another go but the following August, McGrath beat her up again leaving her with swollen lips and was subsequently locked up on remand to face sentence.
McGrath had two previous offences of domestic abuse, the court heard.
His lawyer Paul Kilty said: "His young son has played an active part in his life and he's been missing him. He accepts that the relationship with Miss Munro is over.
"He was working at a new job at the time and had got a position as a supervisor in a bakery. It had good prospects, but he was on probation. He has now lost that job, lost that income, lost that stability and lost contact with his son.
"He has been in custody since August 21 and has spent lengthy periods in his cell with a convicted murderer. The punishment element has already been felt by this defendant and felt keen."
Sentencing District Judge Wendy Lloyd imposed a five-year restraining order forbidding McGrath from contacting Ms Munro except through approved channels for child contact purposes.
She said: "This lady actually jumped out of the window because she was so frightened and you left her begging for you to stop. She had numerous injuries and you put your knee to her neck.
"It was a serious and sustained assault. And there was a child in the caravan which was a seriously aggravating factor. Both occasions were extremely unpleasant for this woman."
