A LOWER Gornal man banned from any contact with his ex-lover attacked her saying "If I can't have you no-one can".

Wolverhampton Crown Court was told Lee Avey grabbed Emma Price around the throat just 24 hours after a separate incident where he pushed his former girlfriend onto a sofa and grabbed her hard by the arm.

During the second assault Avey, aged 32, he forced his way into her home and squeezed her throat so hard she struggled to breathe before finally releasing his grip.

As he jailed Avey for ten months, Judge Michael Dudley, said: "Obviously the break-up of a relationship comes with a lot of emotion on both sides."

He said it was clear Avey needed to move on with his life because his "constant badgering" had made Miss Price's life a misery.

The judge said Avey had been given a number of opportunities by courts in the past and added: "Any change in the future must come from you."

Nicholas Burn, prosecuting, said Avey's relationship with Miss Price had ended unhappily but he continued to cause her "anxiety and distress."

Dudley Magistrates made him the subject of a restraining order in June last year but he repeatedly breached the order.

She was in fear of Avey and extremely frightened, said Mr Burn, because she wanted to be left alone but he then sent her a string of text messages and letters.

Avey, of Church Street, admitted two charges of assault by beating and four breaches of the order.

The judge told him: "You should have known better than to do what you did. These are serious offences because of the chances you have been given in the past and here you are again."

Malcolm Fowler, for Avey, described his client as a "chastened man" and said he realised he had let Miss Price down and his two children from an earlier relationship.