A MAN who assaulted and harassed his former partner over a six-month period last year has been jailed for 18 months.

Zahir Akhtar (pictured), 34, repeatedly breached a restraining order and non-molestation order preventing contact with his former partner with whom he had five children following an 18-year relationship.

Prosecutor Alisha Kaye told Bradford Crown Court that Akhtar, of Hartington Terrace, Bradford, had been given a community order for an offence of battery in June last year.

He breached the terms of the order by cutting off his electronic tag, before then assaulting his former partner at her home on December 13, hitting her in the face with a set of keys in his hand.

Imposing an unlimited restraining order alongside his jail term, the Recorder of Bradford, Judge Jonathan Durham Hall QC, told Akhtar: “Repeated batteries of vulnerable women cannot go unpunished. You have proved you are not capable of adhering to court orders.”