A MAN has been jailed after throttling his partner and taking on security guards who tried to stop him.

Alan Ashard, 37, of Stanley Road, Southend, admitted throttling his partner of eight months and punching her in front of her son, four.

At Southend Magistrates’ Court, he also admitted assaulting a security guard, who tried to restrain him, and one count of criminal damage during the incident, on January 27.

Prosecutor Lesley Chipps told the court Ashard turned up at the woman’s flat, in Hawtree Close, Southend, after drinking alcohol and became aggressive towards her.

He smashed his mobile against a wall, before picking up an ashtray and hurling it.

He then grabbed her by the throat, pressing on her windpipe, before punching her in the side of her head.

The court heard the woman resisted him by kicking out as her son looked on. Ashard then went into the kitchen and picked up a pair of scissors, as the woman reassured her son.

At this point, two security guards, who patrol the Woodgrange Estate, knocked on the door. Ashard put down the scissors and left the flat shouting: “Come on! I’ll take you all on.”

In the struggle that followed, security guard Jamie Kirk sustained an injury to his finger and the woman, who had joined in, received a 2ins bite on the inside of her thigh.

Ashard’s solicitor, Laura McLeod, said he did not intentionally bite his partner.

She said: “When the bite occurred, he was on the floor and someone was kneeling on his head. He had no idea she had got involved. He was in some pain and he did bite, but he didn’t realise it was her.”

Ashard was jailed for four months for assaulting the woman, four months concurrently for assaulting Mr Kirk and another month concurrently for criminal damage.

A 12-month restraining order was also imposed forbidding Ashard from contacting the woman.