A violent bully attempted to hurl his pregnant girlfriend out of a first-floor window after throwing away her father's ashes.

Ashley Brazier, of Whitstable, ripped his terrified partner's clothes off in “signature attacks”, spat phlegm in her face and punctured her lung with an uppercut.

The 31-year-old flew into rages twice after searching the woman’s phone shortly after her father died, a court heard.

Brazier checked her mobile and became suspicious of a text while drinking at a friends’ home in Ramsgate in June.

In front of a seven-month-old baby, Brazier called the woman "a slag", slapped her, pulled clumps of hair from her head, spat in her face and tore off her clothes in an act of humiliation.

Two months later, at their Whitstable home, Brazier searched her phone and noticed a man “liked” a Facebook photo.

He struck her face with the device after accusing her of having an affair, prosecutor Amy Nicholson explained.

Well-built Brazier picked up his girlfriend - who weighed just 7st 2lbs - and tried throwing her out of the first-floor window.

“But she managed to stretch out her body to prevent being thrown out,” Miss Nicholson added.

His anger intensifying, Brazier pinned her to the wall by the throat, lifting her feet from the floor to set up his next attack.

As she fought to escape, Brazier repeatedly spat in his victim’s face and slapped her with such force it caused ringing in her ear.

Brazier would soon step up his game of cat-and-mouse, which his victim labelled “petrifying”, Canterbury Crown Court heard.

He delivered an uppercut to her torso, dislodging a rib and puncturing a lung.

He then stripped her and locked her out of the room.

Brazier stopped the attack after realising the damage he had caused.

Doctors at the QEQM Hospital later had to inflate his victim's lung twice and install a drainage tap.

Unknowingly, she was in the early stages of pregnancy at the time of the assault.

Miss Nicholson explained the victim branded Brazier “spiteful, cruel” and told how on one occasion he “threw away her father’s ashes”.

She was left in pain and suffered from breathing difficulties for three months afterwards. Symptoms of anxiety, PTSD, insomnia and flashbacks were also exacerbated, the barrister explained.

“She says what happened has ruined her life," she added.

Of his 41 previous convictions, Brazier has clocked up two for harassment, six for battery, 10 for criminal damage and multiple breaches of court orders.

Mitigating, Phil Rowley said his client grew up in a home surrounded by domestic violence on a Birmingham council estate rife with crime.

He explained Brazier had been a working man, suffered an alcohol addiction, and, as an indication of remorse, pleaded guilty at a previous hearing rather than standing trial.

“On his release, he proposes to live with his mum in Milton Keynes,” he added.

'What happened has ruined her life' - Prosecutor Amy Nicholson

Judge Rupert Lowe scalded Brazier for his campaign of violence and humiliating the woman with “signature attacks” of stripping her.

The judge explained Brazier posed a “significant risk to the public” but his sentencing powers were restricted, and he could not impose an extended sentence.

A prison term must fall above the four-year threshhold before judges can consider imposing extensions on the basis of dangerousness.

He jailed Brazier for three years and nine months for causing actual bodily harm and grievous bodily harm.

The thug appeared in the dock sporting a black eye.

He could occasionally be seen shaking his head as the facts were read, in protest at parts of Miss Nicholson's account.

And during the hearing he told the court he was “sorry” and the violence was “out of stupidity”.

But after Judge Lowe passed sentence, Brazier said his victim’s account “had been exaggerated” and became visibly angry while being led to the cells.

A restraining order means it is illegal for Brazier to enter Gosselin Street in Whitstable or Arlington House in Margate.

He is also prohibited from “being present” at any address where his victim lives.

To read more of our in depth coverage of all of the major trials coming out of crown and magistrates' courts across the county, click here.

Read more: All the latest news from Thanet

Read more: All the latest news from Whitstable