A SOUTHAMPTON man attacked his girlfriend so brutally that she thought she was going to die, a court heard.

Daniel McEwan, of Oslo Towers, International Way, forced his way through his girlfriend’s barricade and repeatedly strangled, punched and kicked her on their balcony because of a row about money.

McEwan was given a suspended sentence at Southampton Crown Court after pleading guilty to battery and actual bodily harm earlier this year.

Over two attacks, McEwan strangled his former partner, spitting on her and wrapping a piece of material around her neck and pulling on it – she feared he would kill her.

McEwan, 25, had been in a relationship with his former girlfriend for two years since May 2016.

Despite his partner saying that he was not violent for the first year of their relationship, he became more and more angry.

The court heard that arguments began with small matters but later became heated and violent.

Prosecuting, barrister Siobhan Linsley, said: “On the first occasion, an argument took place over a minor issue, but escalated, as was increasingly the case in their relationship.

“The defendant repeatedly punched her in the head and grabbed her throat so tightly that she couldn’t breathe.

“After collapsing to the floor, crying, she was then kicked three times as he called her ‘pathetic’, and proceeded to spit at her.

“Three weeks later, a discussion took place about money that was missing from her account.

“Fearing being attacked, the defendant’s partner barricaded herself on the balcony of their flat, but he broke through, and began punching her repeatedly.

“He then, once more, grabbed her by the throat, stopping her from breathing.

“She said she thought she was going to die.

“She asked him why he was doing this, but he continued to attack her.”

After managing to contact her sister, the victim told McEwan that her sister’s boyfriend, whom he was afraid of, would be coming round. He then left the flat.

The victim returned later in the day to collect clothes, and the defendant also turned up. He once again attacked the victim by wrapping material around her neck and pulling tightly.

Asked why he was attacking his former partner, McEwan said it was because “she was boring”. While being questioned by police, he first said that she was lying, and that she self-harmed.

When the victim attempted to gather photos of her initial injuries, she found they had been deleted from her iPad.

Defending, barrister Mark Florida James admitted that his client’s actions were “humiliating and degrading|”.

Recorder James Watson gave McEwan an 18-month prison sentence, suspended for 18 months, and ordered him to carry out 20 rehabilitation activity days and undertake 80 hours of unpaid work.