A MAN who carried out an attack following a failed relationship has been jailed for ten months.

It was alleged that Paul Sears punched, kicked and tried to strangle Cheryl Hough.

He maintained that the claims were untrue and that he had merely grabbed her by the scruff of the neck, put a hand over her mouth and taken her back to her home in Lynwood Avenue, Darwen.

Sears, 32, formerly of Wood Street, Darwen, had pleaded guilty to a charge of assault occasioning actual bodily harm.

A trial of issue was held at Preston Crown Court where a judge ruled in favour of the woman after hearing evidence from both sides.

The assault took place on July 31, during his second visit to her address that night. Miss Hough said she was in bed when woken by the defendant's arrival. He had a screwdriver in his hand.

She said he took hold of her by the throat and began squeezing it.

It was also alleged that he hit her five or six times before she went downstairs. Afterwards she ran outside. Sears accepted that he took out a kitchen window in order to get into the house.

He denied that anything happened upstairs in the home.

He told the court: "I just grabbed hold of her by the scruff of the neck when we were outside. I put my hand over her mouth, she was shouting and screaming.

"I picked her up and carried her back in."

The defendant also said he had gone into the house to talk and not to assault Miss Hough. He also claimed that he had been to see her the previous night and that they had sex on that occasion.

Mr Arthur Stuttard, defending, said Sears had been in custody for sixteen weeks, the equivalent of an eight-month sentence.

"He does now accept that the relationship between himself and Miss Hough is at an end. While he has been in custody a former girlfriend has been writing to him. He is hopeful he might be able to resurrect that relationship."