A DRUG abuser who was witnessed throwing a woman to the ground in the street before punching her has been jailed for 14 months.

Prosecutor Austin Newman told Bradford Crown Court that Paul Stubbs and the woman had been in a “volatile” five-month relationship with Stubbs’s behaviour veering from “normal” to “verbally abusive and occasionally violent”.

The court heard that the woman formed the view that his bad behaviour was attributed to his abuse of drugs and alcohol.

On the evening of September 11 last year, Stubbs asked the woman to ask a friend for money to buy crack cocaine.

However, she returned empty-handed and then announced she was going out with a friend in her car.

That angered Stubbs who followed her out of his house on Crest Place, Brighouse, grabbed her jacket and dragged her down the street.

When she got free, he picked her up in a bear hug and carried her down the street. At one point he had his arm around her neck as if in a chokehold.

The woman’s friend attempted to intervene but Stubbs threatened the throw the victim in front of her car.

The incident was witnessed by a passer-by, who called the police.

When Stubbs spotted a police car he told the victim to hide in a nearby garden centre where he shouted at her, punched her three times, and hit her head on the floor causing a cut. When the police arrived he was arrested.

Stubbs later pleaded guilty to assault occasioning actual bodily harm.

Mr Newman said the woman “remained fearful” of Stubbs, who had threatened both her and family members “many times”.

The court heard that Stubbs, now 34, had previous convictions dating back to 2011 including for dishonesty, battery and threatening behaviour.

Mitigating, Saf Salam said Stubbs accepted that he had struggled with substance abuse and alcohol addiction.

He said the “tempestuous relationship” was now over and Stubbs had no desire to return to it.

In sentencing Stubbs, who appeared via video link from HMP Leeds, Mr Recorder Shamin Qureshi said prior to the assault he had stayed out of trouble since 2014.

He sentenced him to 14 months imprisonment minus 112 days spent on remand.

He also imposed a two-year restraining order banning all contact with the victim.