A man hit his ex-girlfriend over the head with a glass after she tried to leave his flat.

Richard Pullen, 45, has now been jailed for 10 months after admitting causing actual bodily harm and a malicious communications offence.

Sending the Royal Wootton Bassett man down, Judge Peter Crabtree said: “She should have been safe at your home. She was your partner. This is a domestic violence incident. She should have been treated with respect by you. Your behaviour on that night of April 17 fell a long way from that.”

Swindon Crown Court had earlier heard Pullen and the woman had broken up in March. On April 17 she had gone to his flat in Royal Wootton Bassett to try and patch up the relationship.

They played Monopoly and shared some drinks but, when Pullen started become tetchy, she said she wanted to go back to her daughter’s home.

He told her she wasn’t allowed to leave, prosecutor Alec Small said. Pullen claimed she was only leaving because her daughter was bribing her.

When the woman stood up to leave she felt something hit her on the head. She looked down at the table and saw broken glass. Her scalp later had to be glued by paramedics.

She called her daughter, leaving a voicemail in which Pullen could be heard calling her evil and vile. An hour later the daughter received a Facetime video call from her mother, who was covered in blood. The woman said “just to let you know I am fine” before hanging up.

Shocked, the daughter called police then drove to Pullen’s flat. Police got there a short time later and rang the intercom. Initially, the victim herself answered and told the officers they had the wrong flat so Pullen wouldn’t get angry with her. An officer rang again and Pullen answered, promising he would let them in.

When he didn’t answer the door, officers buzzed every flat in the building and eventually managed to get in. Pullen refused to open the door, daring them to kick it down then barricading himself against it. They finally broke it down and had to use pepper spray on a “pumped up” Pullen.

Within a week of being charged, Pullen left nine voicemails on his ex’s phone in a half hour period. In the abusive messages he threatened to smash her windows and made lewd comments about her and used racist language to insult her daughter. In one message he said he would smash something over his head, then told her: “You’re putting me through this. You got me a f***ing tag. You got me a f***ing court case. You’ve ruined my life. Thanks a f***ing lot, love.”

Pullen, of Station Road, was due to stand trial this week but pleaded guilty to ABH and malicious communications.

Tom Wilkins, mitigating, said: “He has had time on remand to reflect and whatever he said in those unfortunate messages the fact is through me he expresses his apologies to the court and his remorse about what had happened.”

A restraining order prevents him from contacting his ex-partner until further order.