A judge told Daniel O'Donnell that his offense had been so serious that there was no other way to deal with him than to send him into immediate custody.
Philip Brunt, a prosecutor at Worcester Crown Court, said O'Donnell and the victim struck up a relationship, but within months he received a two-year suspended sentence for threatening to destroy his property, as well as possession of a knife. .
As part of that sentence, O'Donnell was given a restraining order to have no contact with the victim for five years, but the court heard that O'Donnell regularly violated it.
INCARCERATED: Daniel O'Donnell (Image: West Mercia Police)
The prosecutor told the court that O'Donnell had threatened to break the victim's jaw; he forced her to leave her job in Birmingham to work closer to Worcester; hit her causing bruises; he told her to send photographers to prove where she was and gave her a list of rules that she had to follow.
In a message O'Donnell sent him, he said: "I know you'll keep coming back and do what I say."
The court heard that the offense culminated on March 2, 2022, when the couple met at a Travelodge in Tewskebury.
Brunt said that, after attempting to cut a GPS tag he was wearing as part of a curfew he had been given, he kicked the victim before pushing her onto a bed.
"He spat in her face," Brunt said.
"Then he started strangling her.
"She thought she was going to die, she couldn't breathe."
The court heard that, after managing to distract the defendant, the victim was able to escape.
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In her personal statement, the victim said that her mental health suffered as a result of the abusive relationship and that she was forced to take months off work due to her anxiety.
The victim added that the ordeal had taken two years off her life.
O'Donnell admitted to the assault that caused actual bodily harm and violated the restraining order in November 2021 and on the day of the assault.
Niall Skinner, in defense, said that what happened had been "disgusting and ugly".
He said the victim had instigated the contact, but O'Donnell knew he shouldn't have.
The court heard that the relationship had ended a year ago and in that time there was no further contact with O'Donnell to stay out of trouble.
Skinner added that the defendant, who had been working as a laborer, had abused alcohol at the time, causing him to lose his temper, but now rarely drank alcohol.
O'Donnell showed no reaction when he was jailed for three years and six months on Thursday (May 25).
The judge said that the time spent in preventive detention and in curfew would count towards a reduction in that period.
