A 52-year-old man who launched a violent attack on a girlfriend half his age has been jailed for a year.

Jeremia O'Donoghue left the 26-year-old mum with a deep gash in her leg which needed ten stitches after they argued following an afternoon in a pub.

And the woman told a judge she feared for her life when her older boyfriend carried out the drunken attack in the block of flats where they both lived.

Tessa Hingston, prosecuting, told Swindon Crown Court the couple had been in a relationship for about four months before the incident earlier this year.

On the morning of Thursday, March 24, she said the woman had been to a civil court hearing about one of her children, where she met up with her former partner.

Fearing that O'Donoghue would be jealous she did not tell him about it until they were in the pub that afternoon.

She said they spent about four hours in the Sir Daniel Arms where the defendant, who is bipolar and doesn't always take his pills, downed about eight pints.

When they got in a taxi to take them back to Gorse Hill she said he started to get jealous and they were arguing about her seeing her ex.

Miss Hingston said the cabbie described how O'Donoghue was angry when he got into the taxi.

"The female said she wanted to kill herself, he told her she deserved to be dead," she said.

As they got out of the vehicle he was walking quickly away from her while she was trying to catch up and resolve their problems, but he wasn't interested.

Miss Hingston said when they got back to the flats the argument continued and she suffered the injury to the back of her right leg.

Although the victim, who has been a victim of domestic abuse in the past, claimed he had thrown a piece of chair at her and threatened her with a knife, he did not accept either.

He insisted the injury was caused when he pushed her and she fell on to a chair, cutting her leg which because of the type of wound did not bleed.

She then went upstairs, to go to her flat, but O'Donoghue followed her and she had to hide in a recess as he banged violently on her door.

In a victim personal statement she told how the attack had left her with night terrors and said 'on that day I genuinely thought he would kill me'.

O'Donoghue, formerly of Camdale Parade, Cricklade Road, but now of Reading Street, admitted causing actual bodily harm.

Mike Pulsford, defending, said although his client had previous convictions, none were for violence.

He said he had done five months in custody on remand and insisted the injury was caused when he pushed the victim, and denied throwing anything or having a knife.

Jailing him Judge Tim Mousley QC said: "It seems to me she is a person who is vulnerable, but you were aware of her vulnerabilities.

"I have heard the effect it has had on her. After you pushed her you persisted by pursuing her."