A MAN who throttled a woman in a “frenzied”, “brutal” and “barbaric” attack has been jailed for more than four years.

Lee Eric Smith, 46, tried to stamp repeatedly on her head, suffocated her, bit her forehead and held her in a headlock, York Crown Court heard.

“I am going to strangle you … kill you,” he told the woman, said Michael Greenhalgh, prosecuting.

She later told police it had been a “frenzied attack”, said Mr Greenhalgh.

In separate incidents, Smith told a post office shop employee he would “pay kids to come into the store and smash it up” and was aggressive towards a police detention officer while in a police cell.

Smith, of no fixed address, pleaded guilty to attempted grievous bodily harm, assaulting the woman on a different occasion, a public order offence in a Selby post office and assaulting an emergency worker.

The Recorder of York, Judge Sean Morris, called the attack on the woman “brutality and barbarity”.

“Mercifully, really serious injury did not occur,” he told Smith. “That was lucky because you attempted to stamp repeatedly on the face of your victim.”

He jailed Smith for four years and two months and made a 10-year restraining order banning him from contacting the woman.

Solicitor advocate Graham Parkin, mitigating for Smith, said the defendant had been homeless at the time and had been drinking and taking drugs to cope.

That led to him having difficulties getting accommodation, so he drank and took drugs again and was caught in a spiral, the court heard.

He had also suffered a serious head injury when his car overturned on the A19 in July 2019 and had been diagnosed as having an “unstable personality disorder” that meant he was prone to mood swings and being emotionally unstable, said Mr Parkin.

Mr Greenhalgh said Smith went to the woman’s house in Selby at 9.30pm on January 3, pushed past her to get into the house and started calling her names.

Then he grabbed her by the throat and pinned her before punching her.

She managed to get free but he got her in a headlock and she ended up on the floor.

As she lay there, he tried to stamp on her face several times.

She got into the living room and was able to call her father to call the police before the attack resumed.

Smith put some clothes over her head, the court was told.

“She felt like she was being suffocated,” said Mr Greenhalgh.

At one point she curled in a ball protecting herself with her arms and legs but Smith bit her on the forehead, the court heard.

She suffered injuries to her face and legs and marks consistent with being throttled.

He stopped when her parents arrived.