A FORMER soldier who broke into a woman’s West Yorkshire home and held a knife to her throat has been jailed for three years.

Alan Johnson pleaded guilty to two offences of common assault on his former partner and falsely imprisoning her when he was sentenced at Bradford Crown Court today on a video link to Hull Prison.

Johnson, 31, of The Thimbles, Rochdale, Greater Manchester, was in a relationship with the woman but became paranoid after drinking alcohol, prosecutor Chloe Hudson said.

He pinned her against a wall and bruised her leg, and then slapped her across the face in a separate incident.

On March 28, he broke into her home in the Calderdale area at night and armed himself with a steak knife from the kitchen.

He held the weapon to her throat and had to be tasered by the police.

Johnson had previous convictions for assault, battery, threatening behaviour and harassment.

His barrister, Abigail Langford, said he had been in prison on remand since the knife offence.

He had been depressed and “in a dark place” at the time.

He was ex-army and had served in Iraq before working in the construction industry.

Judge Andrew Hatton jailed Johnson for 30 months for false imprisonment with six months to run consecutively for the two offences of common assault.