A Southampton man poured whiskey on carpet and tried to set it alight during a drunken rant at his partner.

Robert Dewinne's girlfriend of 12 years was so scared she barricaded herself in the bathroom, and when she tried to flee the house he threw her down the hallway.

Judge Peter Henry said she could have been “trapped” in the bathroom had the attempt to set the carpet on fire worked.

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He added: “It was quite clear from her reaction in going to the neighbour that what you did was considerably distressing to her.

“She shared your home so you expect her to comply with your wishes. You wanted to frighten and intimidate [her].”

Southampton Crown Court heard how the 41-year-old had been drinking heavily that day in August of this year, and was playing music “really loud”.

In a fit of rage, he came into the living room where his partner was and lunged at her as if he was going to strangle her.She asked him why he was acting in this way before fleeing into the bathroom, causing him to punch the door behind her.

Prosecuting, Timothy Dracass said Dewinne told his partner to contact her friend for an unknown reason and poured the whiskey he had been drinking onto the carpet.

He then took a lighter out and attempted to set this alight but was unsuccessful.

As his partner tried to leave, he grabbed the top of her arm and threw her down the hallway towards the front door.

She suffered bruising to her toes during the attack and sought refuge in a neighbour's house where she asked them to phone the police.

Dewinne, of Jerome Court, Southampton, was arrested.

His partner would later tell officers that he had strangled her just three weeks earlier on July 10, 2023.

She said he had accused her of sleeping with a friend that she had been visiting and put his hands on her neck, squeezing “really tight”.

She was able to pull his hands off and managed to escape.

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Dewinne answered no comment when interviewed but delivered a prepared statement in which he denied having assaulted his partner.

He accepted that he had spilt some whisky on the carpet but said he had not tried to set fire to it.

He later pleaded guilty to assault occasioning actual bodily harm, attempted arson and intentional strangulation.

Mitigating, Simon Walters said: “This was not really a meaningful attempt to start a fire. It was a stupid act.”

He told the court that his client, who has previous offences for violence, was adopted at the age of four because of a “lack of stability” in his biological family.

He said he had a “troubled childhood” and was exposed to physical abuse, leaving the family home in his early adolescence, becoming homeless.

Dewinne went on to suffer from addiction.

Mr Walter said: “He is sorry for the experiences that [the victim] has suffered at his hands.”

Dewinne was jailed for 24 months.