A THUG who attacked his partner in the early hours of Boxing Day has been jailed for 26 months.

Wesley Isbell struck his partner across the face, leaving her with an injured nose and swollen and bruised left eye.

The assault spilled out into the street shortly after 4am, causing neighbours in Greenfold Avenue, Farnworth, to call police and there was a stand-off with officers as 22-year-old Isbell brandished a knife.

At Bolton Crown Court Isbell was sentenced via a video link from prison after pleading guilty to causing actual bodily harm and affray.

Philip Dobson, prosecuting, told how Isbell, a father-of-two, had gone home in the early hours of the morning and became abusive to his partner, attacking her as she made up a baby’s bottle in the kitchen.

She ran out of the house but he followed her and was pulling her around the garden by her hair before police arrived.

Officers tried to speak to Isbell through a window but he produced a knife, only calming down and handing over the weapon when a Taser was pointed at him.

The couple’s two young children were in the house at the time.

Tom Longstaff, defending, stressed that Isbell’s lengthy relationship with his partner had been affected by his mental health, use of alcohol and drugs and the previous death of his mother.

“He tells me that Boxing Day was a moment of madness,” said Mr Longstaff. “He is appalled by his behaviour and wishes to apologise.”

Sentencing Isbell, who already had convictions for offences of violence, Judge Timothy Stead said: “The defendant’s behaviour was dangerous. It’s the only way to put it. Police were treated to a very unpleasant and, potentially dangerous, stand-off.”