A MAN who attacked his ex-partner’s new boyfriend after finding him in her bed has been jailed for eight months.

Joseph Michael Sutton, 24, admitted assaulting Jonathan Threadgold and causing him actual bodily harm after going after him with a wooden spindle from a staircase in the early hours of September 21.

Desmond Duffy, prosecuting, told Dorchester Crown Court that Sutton and former partner Keeley Smith had split in acrimonious circumstances and she had stayed living in the flat in Wyke Road, Weymouth they used to share.

He said on the night in question Sutton had been phoning Miss Smith threatening to come to the flat and force his way in.

Mr Duffy said Miss Smith and Mr Threadgold went to bed at around 3am, some time after which Sutton used a key to gain entry to the flat.

He said Miss Smith woke up and confronted Sutton, who asked who she was with and walked into the bedroom to find Mr Threadgold in bed.

Mr Duffy said: “It was at that point Mr Sutton began his attack on the victim, Mr Threadgold, and he tried to hit the victim.”

He told the court that a struggle ensued, during which Sutton had the wooden spindle in his hand and at one point Mr Threadgold felt a sharp pain above his eye, although in the confusion he could not be sure what had caused it.

Mr Duffy said the pair were eventually broken up after Miss Smith struck Sutton twice with a hammer.

Mr Threadgold suffered a cut above his right eye and bruising to his right eye, while Sutton also suffered injuries as a result of the hammer blows.

Kevin Hopper, representing Sutton, said that his client had actually come off second best in the altercation.

He added: “He was in drink, it was a relationship that ended and clearly Miss Smith has been able to move on but he hasn’t.”

Judge Christopher Harvey Clark sentenced Sutton, of Brixham Road, Paignton, Devon to eight months in prison and imposed a restraining order preventing him from contacting Miss Smith. He said: “You armed yourself with the spindle and set about Mr Threadgold.

“Fortunately you did not injure him particularly seriously, if you had you would be facing a much more serious charge.

“That good fortune for him was not down to you, it seems clear to me you have launched into a very nasty attack on him, he was defenceless, you had a weapon and it was in such unexpected circumstances.”