A controlling boyfriend forced his partner to "eat out of a bin" during an abusive and violent relationship.
Paul Clay isolated his girlfriend from her family and would become violent after "running out of cannabis".
The 25-year-old would regularly degrade the woman by calling her a "fat pig" and once threw her into a Christmas tree and smashed up her presents after becoming furious that she visited her family on Christmas Day.
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Clay appeared at Durham Crown Court on Monday to be sentenced for stalking and controlling and coercive behaviour.
The court heard Clay and the woman had been in an 18 month relationship, which came to an end in March, last year.
Joseph Hedworth, prosecuting, said when the woman moved in with Clay in February 2020, Clay began to "regularly assault" and "emotionally abuse" her.
Clay, a "heavy cannabis user", would become violent when he ran out of the drug, and would call her a "fat pig" and "kick" her.
Mr Hedworth said he "isolated" the woman from her family and friends, and would "physically restrain" her from leaving the home.
When the woman could leave and returned from visiting people, she would be "beaten up".
The court heard that on Christmas Day, 2020, he became angry that she left him alone to visit her family.
When she returned, he "threw her into the Christmas tree" and "smashed up" her presents that she'd received from her parents.
Then in March, last year, she went to visit friends, before receiving a message from Clay which said "get back here or I'll belt you".
He later hit her so hard, her earrings fell out, the court heard, and slapped her, telling her, "this is what happens when you don't do what I say".
The next month, she visited friends again, but he told her to "get home or you are going to get a beating".
Mr Hedworth said that Clay would also degrade the woman by calling her "Miss Piggy" and on one occasion "made her eat out of a bin".
He said Clay would also become violent after playing computer games, saying she had "put him off".
The woman, who suffers from Crohn's disease, was hit with "remote controls" and "cups", the court heard, and Clay would throw her medication around.
When the violent relationship eventually ended, Clay continued to bombard the woman with messages from fake Facebook accounts and would threaten to turn up at her workplace.
Clay was arrested in August last year and admitted he assaulted her and even referred to her as a "fat pig" in police interview.
Mr Perkins, defending, said Clay had no previous convictions and "saw sense" to plead guilty.
He said the start of the relationship was at the beginning of the Covid lockdown and Clay was "unable to cope with the stresses and strains of that".
He added Clay, of Chestnut Avenue, Spennymoor, had been working regularly and was "not habitually a bad person".
Judge Ray Singh jailed Clay for 27 months and made him subject of a 10-year restraining order.
