A VIOLENT thug with a history of offending has been jailed for punching his partner repeatedly.

Jay Moody punched his victim having moments before he dragged her into a flat in the Lordshill area of Southampton.

The woman described the attack saying they were “proper punches” like Moody had been “punching a man”.

When police arrived, they saw blood on her face, a court heard.

During a proceeding on Friday, Mr Recorder Neil Millard deliberated over the facts of the case.

He said: “This was a nasty and sustained attack.”

Recorder Millard said how Moody, 21, has 15 convictions to 31 offences - 10 for violence.

The court heard that when the offence happened on March 12 this year, he had been subject to two suspended sentences.

Last September, Moody received a ten-month sentence which was suspended for 18 months, for his part in a burglary.

He had been part of a trio which stole a television, Xboxs and jewellery worth “a pound short of £1,600” from a first-floor flat in Duncan Court, Southampton.

His other sentence had been given to him after he was caught with a knife while in prison.

He was once jailed for 28 months for robbery.

Furthermore, during the murder trial over the death of his friend James Laurie last year, it was revealed that Moody had previously robbed a group of students with a pizza cutter.

Defended by Jamie Gammon, he appeared before Southampton Crown Court on Friday charged with a single count of assault occasioning actual bodily harm. He had previously pleaded guilty.

Recorder Millard said he accepted Moody was remorseful and had mental health difficulties including ADHD.

He added that he was still a young man but said “it gives me no pleasure to pass this sentence”.

He jailed him for a total of 20 months.