A MAN who attacked his then-girlfriend and held a machete to her throat as she lay on the floor has narrowly avoided jail.

Steven Hardingham, 26, had been in a relationship with the woman for just five weeks when she tried to break things off and leave his flat in Shipley on June 28 last year.

She had become angry after catching Hardingham watching a pornographic film, but as she tried to open the flat door, he grabbed her arm and punched her.

Bradford Crown Court heard that Hardingham kicked the woman, causing her to “lose consciousness for a short time.”

He then held a machete to her neck before the attack ended when his mother came in. The woman was taken to hospital with facial injuries.

Hardingham, now of no fixed abode, claimed he had been acting in self-defence but later pleaded guilty to assault occasioning actual bodily harm.

The Recorder of Bradford, Judge Jonathan Durham Hall QC, said Hardingham was “very lucky” that the probation service supported a suspended prison term. He jailed him for 18 months, suspended for two years, and imposed 200 hours unpaid work, 33 days rehabilitation, and a restraining order.