An ex-Para who served in Afghanistan had subjected his partner to a “terrifying and violent” ordeal after drinking heavily following a family funeral, a judge said on Monday.

Shaun Mulholland, 30, of Coast Road, Rhyl, North Wales, was jailed for 18 months after he admitted making a threat to kill her, assault causing actual bodily harm and criminal damage.

Caernarfon crown court heard he had insulted Lisa Hannen and pulled her backwards and forwards by her hair.

Prosecuting counsel Simon Rogers said Mulholland had poked the mum in the face, punched and kicked her repeatedly, bitten her hand and squeezed her throat. Mr Rogers said Mulholland at one stage entered their lounge with a machete which he held to Miss Hannen’s throat.

Police then arrived, having been called by the victim, a support worker. She had been cut and bruised, had hair pulled out, and had “whiplash” injury to her neck, the prosecutor added. The relationship was over.

SImon Killeen, defending, said Mulholland, who wept during the case, had underlying issues but good employment as a specialist ground driller.

Mr Killeen agreed his behaviour was “shocking.”

Judge Huw Rees said Mulholland had at one stage closed the living room blinds “in a sinister way” and Miss Hannen must have feared the worst. “She would have been at her wits end in fright,” he remarked.

The judge said the defendant was “no stranger to violence” and had a community order previously.

“You present a risk to the public,” Judge Rees added. “This offending is too serious for the sentence to be anything other than an immediate one.”