A thug beat up his girlfriend three times leaving her with severe anxiety and a fear of men.

Peter Smith, 39, met his victim on Facebook in 2020, Preston Crown Court heard, with the pair meeting in real life for the first time on Christmas Day after he messaged her saying he had a present for her.

Eddie Steele, prosecuting, told the court that the relationship progressed from there, but problems began occurring and they would often argue with Smith accusing her of cheating and calling her a slag and a slut.

Mr Steele said: “On July 25 they had been at his address in the garden, and she was wearing a bikini and a t-shirt.

“He pulled her bikini bottoms down, got hold of her and threw her in the hot tub and in doing so broke her finger, before calling her a slag.

“She went to the hospital but decided not to make a complaint as the defendant said if she reported him to the police social services would take her children from her.

“She ended the relationship but then a few months later they got back together.”

Mr Steele said the second incident came in July 2022, a year later, when the defendant and his victim went to Manchester for a gig.

He went on: “An argument developed, and he threw a drink over her.

“She went to where he had parked his van and they argued some more. He opened the van so she could get her belongings out, but he took hold of her leg as she was between the door and the seat and began slamming the van door against her leg and refused to let her go.

“She got cuts to her hand and bruises to her leg.

“A member of the public who witnessed what happened gave her a lift home, and that was the end of the relationship but by the end of 2022 they had got back together.”

The court heard how on January 29, Smith’s victim had been on a night out in Accrington with her friends when she received a text from him accusing her of sleeping with someone else.

She left and went to his address, and they went upstairs to the bedroom.

Mr Steele continued: “His hair was in a plait and she asked if a female had done it, and before long they ended up in a physical fight.

“He grabbed her hair and pulled her to the floor and hit her and stamped on her face which caused her to lose her vision temporarily.

“Her ear was hurt, and her nose was damaged but she managed to run out onto the street and get a taxi home.”

Smith’s victim had concussion and nasal fractures, and told police that she now suffers with panic attacks and anxiety.

She said she sometimes freezes and can’t get her breath back and has had to change her social habits, feels she will never be the person she once was and has a fear of men, particularly drunk men.

Smith, who has two convictions for three offences, was arrested the same afternoon of the final incident and told police, “This is a joke, I knew I shouldn’t have let her in”.

Sentencing, Judge Simon Medland KC said: “The impression I have is that the defendant thought he could get away with it at the time.

“He saw her as an easy target and behaved very badly towards her and has paid the price in that having been remanded into custody has served the equivalent of a 14-month sentence.”

Smith, of Hargreaves Road, Oswaldtwistle pleaded guilty to three counts of assault occasioning actual bodily harm and was handed a 15-month sentence suspended for two years, as well as a four-year restraining order which bans him from contacting his victim and entering a certain area of the town.

He must also complete a building better relationships course, 30 rehabilitation activity days and 150 hours of unpaid work.