Court hears attacker said "oh look, the princess is crying" as he strangled girlfriend
The woman said she felt maniupulated, anxious and frightened by his behaviour.
An attacker spat in his girlfriend's face and strangled her in bed then taunted her with the words "oh look, the princess is crying".
Philip Ormonde had turned up at the victim's home uninvited last August and made dinner but was asked to leave before she went to sleep.
Newcastle Crown Court heard she was woken in the early hours by him getting in bed beside her and moaning for her to "move out of the way".
The woman, who described their relationship as "toxic and depressing", nodded off again but the court heard the next thing she knew was being strangled.
Prosecutor Deborah Smithies told the court: "She was woken by the defendant shouting at her and placing his hands around her throat.
"He spat in her face and was shouting 'I hate you, you are ugly'. She tried to pull his hands to get them off her neck and when she cried he said 'oh look, the princess is crying'.
"She describes him pushing her into the mattress by her throat, restricting her breathing, while she fought against him, trying to push him off her."
The court heard the woman eventually managed to get out of her home, with Ormonde following and calling her names.
He was arrested and given bail, with conditions to keep away from her.
But the court heard by October he was back at her door, saying he would have to sleep on the streets as he would have nowhere to stay, until she felt guilty enough to let him in.
Miss Smithies said the woman allowed Ormonde to stay in her home while she went to work but believes he started drinking and his apologetic manner towards her soon changed.
Miss Smithies said: "He began to shout at her for not dropping the charges."
The woman said she felt maniupulated, anxious and frightened by his behaviour, and that he would go from "zero to 100".
During an incident when she asked him to finish up a phone call he was taking in her home Ormonde "pushed and shoved" her and she once again had to flee her home.
In a victim statement she said: "This behaviour and treatment by the defendant has shattered me, making me doubt myself and reduced my confidence in people."
She said that she lived with "constant worry" and added: "It is totally unacceptable for a person to fear being in their own address living a peaceful, law abiding life".
Ormonde, 37, of Copley Avenue, South Shields, South Tyneside, admitted non fatal strangulation, witness intimidation and common assault and has been jailed for 15 months, with a five year restraining order.
The court heard he has no similar convictions.
Mr Recorder Anthony Hawks said excessive drinking seems to be at the heart of Ormonde's offending and told him: "Society views this sort of violence towards woman extremely seriously and if you didn't realise that before you should realise it now.”