A JILTED lover attacked his girlfriend’s chest with a pair of pliers and sprayed her with fly killer after she told him to leave her farm near Okehampton, a court has heard.

Nigel Reeby left victim Rosalynd Davies battered, bruised and with abrasions on one of her breasts after the sustained attack at her farm.

He headbutted her, kicked her in the bottom, and used the pliers to attack her. As she lay on the floor of her home he soaked her with a vinegar-based spray which she used to keep flies off her horses.

Exeter Crown Court heard that Reeby, aged 48, had been in a three year relationship with Miss Davies but they broke up acrimoniously during a series of disputes about money and a £700 vet’s bill for his dog.

He was cleared of trying to cut her in half with a chainsaw at a trial at Exeter Crown Court earlier this month but admitted carrying out the second attack.

Reeby, of Catalina Close, Dunkeswell, admitted causing actual bodily harm and was jailed for eight months, suspended for two years and ordered to attend a ‘Building Better Relationships’ course by Recorder Mr Michael Parroy, QC.

He told him he was suspending the sentence because Reeby was now the sole carer for his frail 85-year-old father, who would suffer more than him if he was sent straight to jail.

Mr Parray said: ‘I found Miss Davies’s account of this incident to be credible, including what she said about the abrasion on her breast and the use of the pliers.

‘I found your account lacked credibility considering the photographs of her injuries and which show her hallway smothered in the fly repellant liquid spray in the way she described.

‘This was a persistent, deliberate assault and in my view was effectively a punishment to her and something of a deliberate degradation of her because you felt you had been treated unfairly.

‘You assaulted her, you injured her and you humiliated her, and it was perfectly deliberate. You used your boot, a pair of pliers and the liquid as weapons and intended to cause more harm than you did.

‘It was in the context of a domestic relationship and my court must regard it with the utmost seriousness.’ 

Miss Laura Searle, prosecuting, said the attack took place at Miss Davies’s farm in July 2013 after the break up of the relationship. She suffered bruising to her head from the butt, her buttocks from a kick, and to her breast.

Mr Richard Crabb, defending, said Reeby had been found not guilty of the more serious offence with the chainsaw and had stayed out of trouble for more than three years since this assault.

He passed the judge letters from a doctor which confirmed that Reeby has undertaken the care of his 85-year-old father.

He said he had admitted this assault immediately although he continued to dispute causing the injury to the breast.

Mr Crabb said: ‘Miss Davies said that until very shortly before this incident there had been no aggression. This all happened when the relationship had probably run its course.’