A man throttled his girlfriend - who thought she was going to die - after she told him she wanted to break up.
Days later, after being bailed following his arrest, Demornia Cantrill told her 'snitches get stitches' as she frantically dialled 999 when he turned up at her home unannounced.
The 24-year-old was aggressive with his partner and would verbally abuse her, Minshull Street Crown Court heard.
He would tell her she was 'stupid and childish' and once slapped her.
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Cantrill turned up at her home in Trafford one day.
He walked into her home, and, after she told him she wanted to split, asked: "Why don’t you care about our relationship?"
Cantrill continued pacing around the property and refused to leave.
"He walked into the bedroom and grabbed her by the throat and strangled her with one hand," prosecutor Alison Whalley said.
"She states that she began to shake and felt unable to breathe.
"She said she thought she was going to die."
Cantrill eventually let go, giving the woman time to call the police.
After being arrested, he told cops it was 'a joke'.
He also said he put his hand around the woman's throat in self-defence.
While on bail, he went to the woman's home again .
She dialled 999 as he told her: "Snitches get stitches.”
In a statement read to the court, the woman said the attack had a significant impact on her.
Cantrill has one previous conviction for two offences, including assault.
Defending, Rachel White said her client accepts he played his part in making the relationship 'toxic'.
"He had a difficult start in life," she added.
"He was in the Army for two years, then he qualified as a special needs teaching assistant."
"This is his first time in custody and it has had a profound effect on him."
Sentencing, Judge John Edwards told Cantrill: "Domestic abuse, as you said in your interview, is far from a joke, and throttling somebody, as you did, to exert ultimate control over them is a highly dangerous form of violence.
"By behaving as you did, you demeaned her and unbeknown to you, you demeaned yourself."
Cantrill, of no fixed address, was jailed for 20 months.
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