A ‘FIXATED’ boyfriend has been jailed for beating up his partner outside McDonalds in Newton Abbot and then stalking her with vile threats.

James Freestone began his attack on the terrified woman at the home they were sharing in the centre of the town and carried on after she fled and tried to seek refuge at the fast food restaurant.

He was seen punching her head and face and kicking her as she rolled up in a ball on the ground to try to protect herself.

He went on to break a restraining order by sending messages which called her a grass and a rat and threatened to cave her head in and have her thrown in a river.

He also sent an old clip of him having sex with her to her new boyfriend in an attempt to break up their relationship.

Freestone, aged 30, originally from Teignmouth but now of Ashfield Road, Torquay, admitted assault causing actual bodily harm, battery, theft and three breaches of a restraining order.

He was jailed for a year and eight months by Judge Stephen Climie at Exeter Crown Court, where he was made subject to a new restraining order banning any contact with the victim for five years.

He told him: ‘You were in a relationship which started well but became toxic. You inexplicably assaulted the victim in a way which was unconscionable.’

Mr Herc Ashworth, prosecuting, said the two assaults took place on January 29 last year when he woke her up by hitting her and demanding she use her thumbprint to open her phone so he could check up on her.

He went on to throttle her in an arm lock until she passed out and to punch her repeatedly both inside her house and after she fled to the nearby McDonalds car park.

He ended up by taking her bank card and withdrawing £100 from her account. She suffered cuts, bruises or grazes to her scalp, jaw, eyes, nose, ear and back.

Miss Mary McCarthy, defending, said Freestone has worked hard as a labourer and chef and stayed out of trouble since finishing an earlier jail sentence for a robbery.

References from his mother and friends showed a completely different side to Freestone’s character and he has written a letter expressing his remorse and desire to change.

Miss McCarthy said: ‘He has tried very hard to get his life back on track.

‘He does not have a history of violence in relationships.

‘His breaches of the restraining order were all close together and when he was fixated on her.’