A SOUTHAMPTON amateur boxer has been jailed after assaulting his girlfriend for the second time in 2013.

In a sustained attack, Gordon Ip punched Louise Baker to the head and then put his hands around her throat after they had returned to her home.

The pair had been trying to rekindle their on/off relationship and went to a nighclub where in addition to drink, he also took amphetamine.

The violence, said prosecutor Siobhan Linsley, flared after they returned to her home where she picked up his mobile phone and flicking through his calls, came across one from an unknown number Ip, who trains with the Southampton-based Golden Ring Boxing Club, punched her to the side of the head and at one point in the assault slammed down a chair which broke and part of it struck her.

She fled but then came back and went to bed. The following morning, Ip apologised to her.

The incident happened about three months after he had slapped her across the face.

Ip, a 34-year-old groundworker, of Kathleen Road, Sholing, admitted causing actual bodily harm and was jailed for 20 months.

Judge Peter Ralls QC, passing sentence at the city crown court, said: “You train as a boxer and you should know how important it is to to keep your temper.” Defending, Chris Gaiger said: “He simply lost it and was shocked when he saw a picture of what he had done to her.”