A "THUG and bully" who was a menace to three former girlfriends over a six month period has been jailed for four years.

Connor Graham, 26, punched one woman in the face, strangled her and told her he would "put her to sleep", then attacked another woman, striking her in the nose and face so that blood splattered across the kitchen.

He later threatened the same woman over the phone saying he would batter her in front of her son. Bradford Crown Court heard how Graham breached a non-molestation order in relation to a third woman by turning up at her house uninvited.

Graham, of Cross Hills, Keighley, admitted controlling behaviour, assault occasioning actual bodily harm and damage; direct contact against a non-molestation order; assault occasioning actual bodily harm, damage, causing fear of violence, sending a electronic communication which conveyed a threat; and possession of cannabis. The offences all took place over a six month period between November 2020 and April 2021.

The court heard how Graham had been in a relationship with a woman, when he attacked her in November 2020, first throwing her mobile phone against the wall, then threw something at her head before punching her head and face.

During the two hour ordeal, he refused to let her go to pick up her sons from school, strangled her, and left her with a number of bruises.

The second woman had previously been in a relationship with Graham, having split earlier in 2020, but he would not leave her alone.

Despite an injunction obtained through the courts, he turned up at her house in December 2020 uninvited and was let in as the woman feared he would be violent.

A third girlfriend suffered a five hour ordeal at Graham's hands in March 2021 which began in a car. He screamed and shouted, grabbing the handbrake while the woman was driving. He then punched the windscreen, cracking it.

At one point he took her phone and car keys and locked her in the car, before forcing his victim to drive again, wrenching control of the wheel and saying: "I'm going to kill us".

After returning home he then struck her in the nose and face causing blood to splatter on the kitchen floor. When he finally left her alone, he warned her not to report her ordeal to the police.

Upon being arrested he went on to make harassing phonecalls and messages, saying: "I'm going to smash your face in" and "I'm going to batter you in front of [your son]".

One of his victims described having panic attacks and anxiety, another said she feared he would never leave her alone, and a third said the defendant had no right to treat her the way he did and try to control her.

In Graham's defence, the court heard that he had had a "chaotic upbringing" and that both his mother and father had been heroin addicts. His mother had died when he was seven and he had been taken into care at age nine.

"He went from one relationship to another hoping to fill a void, but now realises that was not the proper way to get help for the problems that plagued him," the court was told. "He recognises that he had a problem, has a problem, and that change is required or else that vicious cycle will continue." He had been diagnosed with depression and ADHD and had suspected PTSD,

Judge David Hatton QC sentenced Graham to four years in prison and made an indefinite restraining order. He said: "You are and have demonstrated yourself to be both a thug and a bully. You are a menace to any woman sufficiently misguided to embark on a relationship with you."

"Having regard to the nature and severity of these offences and the impact on your victims, it clearly renders it essential that a significant custodial sentence must be imposed."