A thug "saw red" and attacked his girlfriend in the street after becoming overcome with jealousy because she'd been on a night out with friends.
Oldham-born Martin Howard left the mother of his child needing surgery after he continued to beat her after she'd been knocked to the floor. She required metal plates in her face after the brute broke her jaw.
Liverpool Crown Court heard that he and the victim had a four-month-old baby and had been in a relationship for two years when she went out for the evening on February 9 this year. Howard sent her a number of messages during the night asking where she was.
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The following morning, the 36-year-old, who now lives in the Bootle area of Liverpool, phoned to ask her to bring his bike to the corner of her road, the ECHO reports.
She met Howard at around 9am, but "without warning" he punched her in the face - causing her to fall to the floor. He then struck his "vulnerable" victim again in the mouth and rode off on his bicycle.
The "possessive and jealous" boyfriend then "rode around the apartment block" before returning and "asking if she was ok". Alaric Walmsley, prosecuting, said: "She was clearly not ok."
The victim had suffered swelling and bruising to her face, while her mouth was "pouring with blood". Her mum subsequently reported the incident to the police.
As officers attended the address, the woman spoke to Howard on the phone - who threatened to kill himself in what was described as 'emotional blackmail.'
The victim said she didn't realise how serious the injury was and didn't attend hospital until February 17 after the pain had worsened. It was discovered that she had suffered multiple fractures to her lower jaw, and she needed an operation to fit two titanium plates and four screws in order to hold the broken bones in place.
Howard was arrested at his then home on Brookside and served 34 days on remand in custody before being released on bail. He also spent 153 days on an electronically-monitored 8pm to 6am curfew ahead of his sentencing.
On July 7, the victim reported to police that her ex and his dad had been calling her asking her to change her story and claim that she had been injured by a "girl at a party".
Howard was further held on suspicion of witness intimidation, for which he remains under investigation. She also described a "history of verbal and physical abuse", which had resulted in the police being called out previously.
The court heard that Oldham-born Howard has previous convictions for violence and drug offences and was also cautioned for assaulting his then partner in 2006.
Peter White, defending, told the court: "Mr Howard accepts his guilt in its entirety. It has to be conceded that this was a particularly serious, unpleasant incident. It was unprovoked.
"He has been quite frank. The words he uses are he saw red, and something came over him. There is absolutely no justification for what he did. The relationship had its issues.
"It may well be that he was the main source of those problems. He suffered a serious injury some years ago and has been unable to work since. He hopes, if he maintains his liberty today, to try to move to Yorkshire and have a fresh start in life. This ultimately was an impulsive, spontaneous and short-lived assault."
Howard admitted inflicting grievous bodily harm and was jailed for 27 months. He was also handed a restraining order preventing him from contacting the victim or entering her street for the next five years, and must pay a victim surcharge.
Sentencing, Judge David Swinnerton said: "You have a history, although not an extensive one, which involves violence against a partner and a police officer. You and this woman had a two-year relationship.
"She describes a history of verbal and physical abuse. Police had been called out before, but you have no previous conviction relating to that relationship. It seems it was not without its difficulties. Part of that difficulty was you being possessive and jealous.
"When you saw her, out of nowhere and with no provocation whatsoever other than your anger and jealousy that she had the temerity to go out with friends the night before, you punched her to the head hard. You caused fractures, plural, to her jaw.
"She had to be operated on. She will have that titanium plate in her jaw as a result of what you did. You said you simply saw red when you saw her because she had been ignoring you for a few days. That goes nowhere near explaining the level of violence you used against her.
"It offers no excuse whatsoever. She, in my judgement, was an obviously vulnerable person and you would have known that because you had been in a relationship for two years.
"This was in the spur of the moment and you did not use a weapon other than your fist. But, nonetheless, you used your first twice on a vulnerable woman who had been knocked to the ground.
"This is a violation of the trust and security someone should be able to feel in an intimate relationship. She thought she could trust you, and what you rewarded that with was causing her a serious injury. It was a grave injury, and there are some permanent effects."
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