A MOTHER-OF-TWO, whose ex-boyfriend beat her and made her children's lives a misery, has urged other abused women to have the courage to go to the police.

Michelle Heath spoke out after her former partner, martial arts expert Noel Everson, 28, of London Road, Larkfield, was ordered to carry out 100 hours of community punishment and to pay her £500 compensation.

He was sentenced at Sittingbourne Magistrates Court on Tuesday after being convicted last month of two counts of assault by beating and one count of causing Miss Heath fear that violence would be used against her. He had denied all three charges.

The offences took place between May 31 and August 20 last year, at Miss Heath's former home, in South Street, Barming.

Miss Heath, 32, said after the sentencing that other women should find the courage to ask for help.

She said: "You've got to come forward, find the courage. It does take an awful lot out of you but in the end it's worth it. I now have someone who loves me unconditionally."

She said her two young daughters had suffered during more than four years of torment meted out by Everson. He would lock the children in their room when they came home from school and would not allow them out until breakfast.

She said: "Noel would put pressure on the side of my neck and tell me he could break it. There would be armlocks and he'd say if I moved he'd break my arm. He would kick me in the ribs."

Miss Heath said: "We had a big falling out after six months but we had just moved in and it was stressful. I found myself making excuses for him. Right up until the court case I made excuses. But he threatened to slit the kids' throats and pour petrol through the letterbox in the night. It was my own fault for staying with him but when it came to my kids it's not funny any more."

She added: "To be honest, he should have been sent to prison for years and years but realistically that was never going to happen."

Everson, who has no previous convictions, was also given a two-year rehabilitation order and ordered to pay £510 costs.