A jilted lover subjected his ex-partner to a terrifying beating after breaking into her home and finding her with a man.

Armed with knives, Neil Jones burst through the communal doors to her flat and then tried forcing his way through the entrance to her home in Ramsgate.

But the woman and man threw their bodyweight behind the door in an attempt to fend off the frenzied 44-year-old attacker.

Yet Jones broke through, rained blows on her as she tried to crawl to safety, and snatched her phone and a smart watch from her wrist.

He was jailed for four-and-a-half years at Canterbury Crown Court on Friday after admitting his actions on the evening of November 7, 2022.

The woman and her friend, named in court as Mr Paul, were having a drink at her address in Spencer Square when Jones forced his way inside the property.

He delivered punches and kicks as Mr Paul fled the home, placed his hands on her throat and stole her belongings.

“The victim states she was fearing for her life and was begging for him to stop,” Matthew Bolt, prosecuting, said.

“She would crawl away from him and he would follow up with further violence.”

But Mr Paul returned a short time later with police officers, as Jones still loomed over his stricken victim, the court heard.

She told officers: “I can’t believe you guys came here, I thought I was going to die.”

While arresting Jones, the police discovered his two knives placed on the sofa.

"You have to understand as women have the right to start a relationship with you they also have the right to end relationships..."

They were not used in the violence.

The court heard Jones and the woman had been in a “loose” relationship, when he became overwhelmed with jealousy.

Representing Jones, Ben Irwin explained: “He thought she was having an affair, cheating on him.

“He thought he was being provoked, he became jealous and upset and acted in a manner he bitterly regrets.

“He tells me he forced his way in because he didn’t know who the other man was.

“Because he didn’t know who the man was he took the knives - he had no intention of using the knives.”

Mr Irwin explained Jones, a former Blockbuster video shop boss, had no intention of stealing the gadgets but wanted to interrogate the pair and “find out who this man was”.

He explained Jones suffered a traumatic childhood, later became homeless and turned to heroin.

However, he was working to clean up his act while being held on remand at HMP Elmley, Mr Irwin explained.

Jones, who has 28 previous convictions - including for two burglaries - pleaded guilty to aggravated burglary and actual bodily harm at an early opportunity.

Judge Simon Taylor KC told Jones, of West Cliff Road: “You have to understand as women have the right to start a relationship with you they also have the right to end relationships.”