A repeat offender punched and throttled his then partner during a camping trip.

Shaun Bignell’s victim tried to escape but her camper van became stuck in the sand.

Bignell, 35, of Close Ollay, Ramsey, has been jailed for three years following the horrific assault which took place at the Point of Ayre on August 17 last year.

In a victim impact statement read out in court, his victim said she suffered flashbacks and regular nightmares and felt scared when she was home alone.

She said she had been with her now ex-partner for three years, adding: ‘I can’t understand why someone who said they loved and cared for me so much would do the things he did. I don’t think I will ever trust again.

‘I can’t see light at the end of the tunnel and worry about any future relationship. I feel detached and distant from life.’

Prosecutor Hazel Carroon told the Court of General Gaol Delivery that an argument broke out on the camping trip and Bignell had thrown multiple punches to her head and then grabbed her around the throat.

She believed she may have blacked out.

The woman attempted to drive away but came across another vehicle that was stuck in the sand and then her own campervan became stuck too.

Having been towed out, they drove to Ramsey and the defendant threatened further violence, warning the woman that if she got out the van that her son wouldn’t have a mother.

Once parked up in Ramsey, she tried to call 999 but the call was on speaker phone and her attacker used the Bluetooth speaker to smash the van’s windscreen.

She tried to escape again but he chased after her, grabbing her phone and throwing it through the roller shutters of the town’s fire station, smashing the window.

Bignell was arrested by police outside the former Ramsey Bakery building.

The court heard that the defendant was on court bail at the time of the attack for assaulting a police officer during an incident in May. He had rugby tackled the officer and had to be PAVA sprayed to subdue him.

He was also in breach of a suspended sentence.

Defence advocate Paul Glover said his client had a history of offending and without intervention he was likely to reoffend.

The court heard Bignel’s previous convictions including criminal damage to the same woman’s property.

Mr Glover said: ‘His conduct that night was disgusting, and he accepts that. He is remorseful and accepts full responsibility.’

Bignell pleaded guilty to domestic abuse, two counts of criminal damage and assaulting a police officer.

Deemster Graeme Cook jailed him for a total of 36 months - 26 months for the domestic abuse offence, four months consecutive for the assault of the police officer and six months consecutive for breach of the suspended sentence.

Sentences of two months for each of the criminal damage charges will run concurrently.

Bignell was also handed a domestic abuse prevention order, banning him from contacting, harassing or inciting violence against the victim. The order will run indefinitely. His licence condition was extended for two years.