A MAN has been jailed after subjecting his partner to a terrifying 45 minute assault during which he bit her and hit her repeatedly with a metal pole.

Stephen Marland, 41, attacked Paula Boardman in the living room of her home at Cecil Street, Leigh, in May of this year after he turned up at her house drunk and bleeding from a wound to his hand.

Bolton Crown Court heard Ms Boardman had tended to Marland’s injuries before he began hitting her with a metal pole, biting her ear and punching her repeatedly.

At one point he grabbed her by the neck with Fiona McNeill, prosecuting, describing how Marland, of Charleston Court, Tyldesley, kissed her and told her he was sorry during the attack.

Following the assault Marland, who later pleaded guilty to ABH, told Ms Boardman they could “sort out their stories” and tell people her injuries were caused by her falling down the stairs or tripping over a lead from her radio.

Sentencing him to 27 months imprisonment, Judge Graeme Smith said the incident was “a nasty, sustained assault”, adding that a pre-sentence report had shown the defendant displayed a “high level of victim blaming”. Marland will also be the subject of a five-year restraining order not to approach or contact Ms Boardman.