BRUISING was left on the neck of a woman who was strangled with both hands and left struggling to breathe by her ex.

Ryan Sleigh stormed entry into her home and hit another woman who was trying to diffuse a fight that had erupted.

The 32-year-old pleaded guilty to charges of intentional strangulation, assault occasioning actual bodily harm, assault by beating and burglary at an earlier hearing.

He appeared back before Liverpool Crown Court to be sentenced on Monday, where he appeared via video-link from HM Prison Altcourse.

The main victim in the case had been in a relationship with the defendant, but she said that she ended it due to him being violent towards her in the past, explained Cheryl Mottram, prosecuting.

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This was rekindled, before it was ended for good by the victim in July, which was ‘not taken well’ by Sleigh.

On July 19, she had been out with friends in a pub in Warrington town centre and completely by chance bumped into the defendant, who was with another woman.

The court heard that, having spoken to the woman, the complainant discovered that the woman and Sleigh had been together while he and she were still in a relationship.

The complainant confronted him about this outside, leading him to become ‘aggressive’, calling her names including ‘fat’ and ‘embarrassing’.

She walked away and returned to her Warrington home at around 2.30am, accompanied by two friends – a man and a woman.

The complainant opened her back door to let her dogs out, but when she did, Sleigh ‘stormed inside’.

He was told to leave but refused, and a ‘fight erupted’ between him and the complainant’s male friend.

The female friend tried to diffuse the situation but received a blow to the head by the defendant, which it is believed was aimed at the male, but thankfully caused no injury.

The complainant called 999 and Sleigh left, but he returned at around 5.30am that same morning, when the victim was woken by sounds of him ‘screaming abuse’ at her from inside her home.

She came downstairs, where he was calling her a ‘tramp’ and a ‘s**g’, and it was said that he had fully removed a window to climb inside.

The victim ran upstairs, but he chased her and kicked her repeatedly, before grabbing her around the throat with two hands and choking her so she could not breathe.

Ryan Sleigh was sentenced at Liverpool Crown Court. Picture: PA

Ryan Sleigh was sentenced at Liverpool Crown Court. Picture: PA

He also grabbed her by the hair and slammed her face into the bed before leaving, taking with him a mobile phone and a dog.

Sleigh returned 10 minutes later and tried to grab another mobile phone, causing the victim’s finger to bleed during a struggle.

He threw the phone at her back, leaving an imprint, and then smashed it against a wall, before taking another phone from the address.

Cheshire Police was called and the defendant was arrested on July 21. During a police interview, he admitted being at the property but denied the assaults.

The court was shown photos of the injuries caused, including the blooded finger, imprint to the back and bruising to her neck after being strangled.

Ms Mottram informed the court that Sleigh does have previous convictions, including assaults in 2008 and 2013, as well as an assault last year in a pub in Spain.

Sleigh was represented by Jim Smith, who said that his client, who has abused alcohol and drugs, now accepts full responsibility for his actions.

It was heard that the defendant says that he has ‘lost everything’ through his actions, including his home, while he has used his eight weeks in prison as a detox and to do courses to work on his rehabilitation.

“He is someone who has never had a custodial sentence before. His eight weeks in prison have been salutary, and he has made the most of it,” Mr Smith said.

It was said that the father is a ‘realistic prospect of rehabilitation’, and that references speak of him being ‘kind, generous, hard-working and caring’.

A suspended sentence was asked for, but judge David Potter said: “The purpose of sentencing is to punish, to enable rehabilitation, to act as a deterrence to others and to protect the public.

“I am satisfied that these offences are so serious that only a custodial sentence is appropriate.

“The sentence is capable of being suspended, and I have considered the guidelines.

“I accept there is some prospect of rehabilitation, but the overall offending, amounting to a violent intrusion of a person’s home, and the application of significant violence, means that only an immediate custodial term is adequate punishment in this case.”

Sleigh, of Bibby Avenue in Padgate, was sentenced to 18 months immediate imprisonment.