A MAN blackened his girlfriend's eye when she tried to turn down his car heater, a court heard.

He carried out another assault when she went to hug him in the street and hit her a third time, after their relationship was over.

Matthew Ward, 20, was jailed for a year at Swindon Crown Court after he admitted three counts of causing actual bodily harm on the 16-year-old girl.

He exerted a controlling influence on the girl, said prosecutor Ramin Pakrooh, often dictating whether she could go out with her friends or not.

"He wouldn't let her go out for meals because she might be chatted up by other people or she might chat them up," he explained.

As a result there were tensions in the relationship, which involved regular arguments.

The first assault happened when they were in the car and the heater was on high. She felt she was suffocating and asked if it could be turned down but Ward's response was to turn up the radio. And when she went to turn it down he suddenly punched in the eye.

Returning home that night, she told her mother that she had hit her face on a door frame.

Mr Pakrooh said the second assault happened outside Swindon College's Regent's Circus building.

The couple hadn't seen each other for several days but Ward didn't seem keen to talk to her. His girlfriend tried to hug him but Ward pushed her to the ground and hit her.

The final incident came after a day spent together in Bristol.

She thought he was dropping her off at home, but he stopped the car, a row erupted during, and he punched her in the face as she tried to get out of the car.

Ian Halliday, defending, said that sometimes couples were just bad news for each other. The defendant had started a relationship with another girl and there had been no repeat of his previous behaviour.

Mr Halliday pointed to the victim impact statement that implied the girl had led the life of a hermit for the past 18 months for fear of meeting the defendant.

But in fact they had been in regular contact through meetings, telephone calls and on the internet.

He said that his client had given a good account of himself in a pre-sentence report and asked the judge to postpone sentencing so Ward, of Grantham Close, Freshbrook, could take part in a domestic violence programme.

But Judge John McNaught decided to go ahead and sentence him. "I don't think you have realised how serious these incidents have been," he said.

"The three incidents together are all unacceptable and the three of them together are a pattern of violence which needs to be punished."

Tina Clarke