A MAN who beat up his former wife, breaking her ribs and covering her in bruises, has been jailed for 27 months.

Winifred Modley suffered two broken ribs, a suspected fractured sternum and multiple bruises in the drink-fuelled attack on December 4 last year.

It was the second time Paul Modley, 47, had attacked her causing her serious injury, Bradford Crown Court heard.

Modley, formerly of Radwell Drive, Little Horton, Bradford, pleaded guilty on the day of his trial to causing Mrs Modley actual bodily harm.

Prosecutor Robert Stevenson said the couple were divorced but rekindled their relationship last year.

On December 3, Modley texted Mrs Modley and invited her to a friend's flat, in Kettlewell Drive, Canterbury, Bradford, where they drank together until 2am.

They argued and Modley grabbed her by the hair in the bathroom, pulled her to the floor and kicked and punched her to the face and upper body.

When she tried to leave the building, he chased after her and attacked her again in the outer doorway, pushed her down and kicking her in the back.

She made her way, injured and bleeding, to Bradford city centre where passers-by called the police after seeing her in a distressed state.

She had swollen lips, a lump above her eye and blood on her face and neck.

Modley, who has 18 previous convictions for 58 offences, told her she deserved the beating, Mr Stevenson said.

He was convicted in 2011 of assaulting Mrs Modley and causing her actual bodily harm, the court heard.

He threw her on to a sofa and punched her in the face, knocking out a front tooth.

Modley was also convicted of breaching a restraining order banning him from contacting Mrs Modley and it was still in force when he attacked her in December.

His barrister, Ken Green, said he had moved from Bradford to Morecambe and had barely touched alcohol since.

He had renewed his relationship with his first wife and taken "massive steps" to change.

But Judge John Potter said: "This was a deplorable and sustained beating on a vulnerable victim while you were in drink, with the use of your shod feet."

The judge said he had seen "graphic" photographs of Mrs Modley's injuries.

Modley had a dreadful record of previous convictions and pleaded guilty only on the day of his trial, forcing Mrs Modley to come to court ready to give evidence.

Judge Potter ordered that the restraining order, without limit of time, continued to be in place.