A MAN strangled his ex-partner and delivered five headbutts as a teenager desperately tried to intervene after entering the woman’s west Cumbria home uninvited.

Jordan Armstrong, 27, and the former girlfriend had been in a relationship which lasted just over 12 months until June 2022, when they split due to him going on 'benders'.

Yet they remained on good terms and the woman was left shocked and surprised by what happened on the evening of August 26 this year, Carlisle Crown Court heard.

As she entertained a neighbour and her 16-year-old son, Armstrong walked into her kitchen uninvited and appeared 'drunk and angry'.

He was repeatedly asked to leave as he made a number of nasty comments about her, prompting the neighbour to leave to try and summon help.

When Armstrong failed to leave, the woman said she was going to call police. “The mood changed,” said prosecutor David Ball.

Armstrong then lunged at his ex-partner, grabbing her windpipe with his right hand and taking her in a choke hold.

“She was in pain and she couldn’t breathe,” said the prosecutor. The neighbour’s teenage son tried to intervene, but feared he would also be assaulted when he saw Armstrong clench his fist.

“The defendant then headbutted (the woman) five times,” said Mr Ball. “She had a painful windpipe and a painful forehead and jaw with bruising and swelling to her right eyebrow.”

In an impact statement she said that the unprovoked assault on her was 'hard to process'.

It was 'out of character', she stated, as her ex-partner had never been violent towards her before.

Armstrong, of Whitehaven, admitted strangulation and assaults on the woman and teenager. He had made no comment when interviewed by police.

The court heard he did have some last convictions for violence towards others.

Judge Michael Fanning, after hearing mitigation, jailed Armstrong, immediately, for 18 months.

“You were clearly under the influence of of drink or drugs or both,” Judge Fanning told him: “This is domestic violence. It is the more serious for that. It is a breach of trust.

“Others tried to protect (the woman) from you.”