A MAN who broke a woman's eardrum with a single punch has been jailed for 13 months.

Martin Ronald McPheators, 32, had a history of violence towards partners and ex-partners before he attacked the 23-year-old woman with whom he had had a three-year relationship, Andrew Horton, prosecuting, told York Crown Court.

She had broken up with him because of his violence, but still saw him on a casual basis and he was attending anger management sessions.

On August 15 when he was at her home, she told him she was having a sexual relationship with another man, he slapped her with an open hand and perforated her eardrum.

She fled the house in pain and ran to her parents. For a time she had hearing problems, but these had now eased.

He was on a suspended 12-month prison sentence for being involved in the supply of cannabis at the time.

McPheators, of Petre Avenue, Selby, changed his plea to guilty to causing the woman actual bodily harm on the day he was due to stand trial, and admitted breaching the suspended prison sentence.

He was jailed for nine months for the assault, plus four months of the suspended prison sentence.

After looking at a photo of the victim, Judge Simon Hickey said she was a "very slight woman who must be entitled to feel safe in her own home.

"It must have been a substantial blow because it ruptured her eardrum."

McPheators was also made subject to a restraining order banning him from contacting the woman or her parents directly for the next five years.

For McPheators, Ian Hudson said the blow had not been premeditated. It was an immediate reaction when he heard about the new man in the woman's life.

McPheators had done the unpaid work and curfew which had been part of the suspended prison sentence and had kept out of trouble until a couple of months before the suspension period of two years was due to finish.