POLICE officers who were summoned to a woman’s house in Carlisle had to spend an hour calming her down after her partner subjected her to strangulation.

Despite knowing about his victim's phobia of precisely that form of violence, 36-year-old Michael Rollason grabbed her by the throat and pinned her to a settee during a row about his mobile phone.

At Carlisle Crown Court, the defendant, of Rydal Street, Carlisle, admitted a single charge of intentional strangulation.

Prosecutor Gerard Rogerson outlined the facts.

He said police were summoned to the couple’s home by a 999 call, during which the woman reported that she had been strangled by her partner.

“She was screaming and crying and Mr Rollason could be heard in the background saying he would ‘slap her up,’ said the prosecutor.

“The police arrived to find [the woman] in a highly upset state.

“The officers were unable to resume their duties for an hour, which is how long it took to calm her down before she could be left in the company of the friend who was looking after her.

"She had a scratch behind her ear.”

Bruises were still visible on the woman’s neck four days later, said the barrister.

When police interviewed Rollason, he accepted that he knew his partner had a particular phobia of strangulation and people potentially putting their hands on her neck.

“He said that he put his hands around her neck to annoy her,” continued Mr Rogerson.

He told police that he did this because the woman had inadvertently damaged his mobile phone and he felt that she had shown a lack of concern about this. The phone was damaged while he was asleep, having taken 20 Valium tablets.

“He said he had not applied pressure but the bruising suggests otherwise,” added Mr Rogerson. As he was taken out of her home by the police, the woman had called the defendant a “dirty rat,” the court heard.

The court heard that Rollason had seven previous offences on his record, including possessing a drug with intent to supply.

Marion Weir, defending, accepted that a background probation report about Rollason made for depressing reading. “He is gutted that this has happened and ashamed” said the barrister.

The defendant had previously himself witnessed domestic abuse and it was not something he wanted to see repeated.

Some years ago, said Miss Weir, Rollason was the victim of an assault, that led to him suffering seizures. He also suffered memory and mental processing issues.

The victim in the present case was not just his partner but also his carer. He accepted that he had a history of drug abuse and that taking Valium had left him disinhibited.

While in jail, said the barrister, Rollason was slashed by another inmate in a shower.

He showed the court the diagonal large scar on the left side of his face that he had been left with as a result.

Judge Michael Fanning concluded that the defendant was not ready to be rehabilitated. “This happened in your victim’s home,” said the judge.

“It’s domestic in nature… You knew she had a fear of being strangled and, knowing that, you chose to strangle her.

“The pictures of the level of bruising show that it was a prolonged strangulation done with considerable force. She will have been in terror. The fact that it took an hour for the police officers to calm her down says it all.

“You were under the influence of drunk and drugs; you threw her phone away so she could not talk to the police.”

The judge recognised that the defendant had a brain injury and that he would lose his home because his relationship with the victim was not over. He jailed Rollason for one year and three months.