A fitness enthusiast launched into a destructive rampage with a screwdriver during a home renovation project - which left his former girlfriend needing stitches.
Darren Clifton, 37, had been helping his ex-partner renovate apartments on Fountain Street on August 13 last year.
Manchester Crown Court heard how the pair decided to take a break and head down to a nearby pub at around 3pm.
During the visit, Clifton suddenly became aggressive and abusive - forcing a member of staff to intervene and eventually kick him out of the venue.
Prosecutor David Toal told a hearing on Monday (February 21), that shortly after he was kicked out of The Shakespeare pub, a furious Clifton called his partner.
She then went to the flats they had been renovating to find him ripping radiators off the walls, damaging the microwave, and kicking and punching 20 to 30 holes in the plasterboard, causing up to £4,000 of damage.
When interviewed by police, Clifton, who was arrested from his home in Abbey Hills Road, Oldham, admitted he had begun to "lash out" with the screwdriver at some mattresses.
But, when his ex tried to grab him he refused to stop his spree of destruction, unintentionally stabbing her in the finger in the process, causing a severe gash that needed five stitches.
Mr Toal continued, telling the court Clifton then pushed his former partner to the ground, holding her down by the collarbone before the pair fell down the stairs and he kicked her at least twice whilst shouting 'watch this now' in her face.
Clifton then threatened to kill her, and himself, before climbing up onto a windowsill and threatening to jump.
This prompted his victim to leave the apartment when she realised she was unable to call for help as her phone was out of battery.
Staff at the Shakespere rang emergency services when they spotted the victim crying, limping, and covered in blood.
She was taken to the Royal Bolton Hospital where she was given five stitches for the wound to her finger and treated for various bruises, lumps and pains.
The next morning, the victim met one of her friends, and Clifton began repeatedly calling her from his mum's phone, demanding his belongings.
Mr Toal told the court the victim's friend answered the phone on one occasion, with Clifton saying: "I'm going to kill her, I'm going to kill you all, I'm going to burn the world down."
He then added: "This isn't over, this is just the start, I know where the car is, I'm going to go back and smash the car up. How about that?"
When Clifton was arrested a few days later he told police that he had been hit by the victim, and 'the scrap was 50/50'. A custody photo from that time shows him with a black eye.
Mr Toal outlined Clifton's seven previous convictions for 19 offences, starting with a vicious nightclub assault in 2006 that saw the then-21-year-old sentenced for tearing one square inch of skin off a victim's bottom lip after biting down on it, before headbutting a man and smacking two others with a bottle.
Clifton was also convicted of several other violent offences, including breaking someone's jaw in 2009, knocking a victim unconscious after a fight in the street in 2013, and pushing someone to the floor in 2017 after they tried to intervene in an argument he was having with another former partner.
Alison Hayworth, defending, told Mr Recorder Cox that Clifton's former partner remains supportive of him, and wishes to continue supporting him once he's released.
She said her client had also tried to turn his life around in 2017, after realising that he needed to steer clear of alcohol, but lockdown had affected his mental health and driven him back to drinking.
Clifton, who had tried to work in the fitness industry on a self-employed basis before struggling with lockdown, has also decided to stop taking anabolic steroids and move away from the 'toxic masculinity' that spurred his earlier offending.
She said: "He has at last acknowledged that he has issues with his mental health.
"The impact of the pandemic, because he lost his job and was at home all day and began drinking again, is perhaps hard to estimate.
"At long last he has seen that taking steroids and embracing the toxic masculinity that he embraced in his early life is something that will see him back before these courts.
"He was too proud and too indoctored in his steroid-taking masculinity to admit that he needed help but he is now taking antidepressants and is looking forward to his future."
Sentencing Clifton to 20 months imprisonment, Recorder Cox said: "You have quite a history of antecedent convictions. The event in 2006, conviction in 2007, is quite a disturbing history to have.
"Despite you receiving sentences for assaulting four people within a nightclub that did not seem to put an end to your behaviour.
"The advent of the pandemic and the imposition of lockdowns has caused you difficulties, you did not have the focus of work to assist you in staying out of trouble.
"I have seen the efforts you have made to try and apologise and the hopeful conclusion of the pre-sentence report that with help you can put an end to your offending behaviour."
Clifton, who has already served six months behind bars, will be available for release in four months time to finish the rest of his sentence on licence.
Due to debts of around £25,000, he is not eligible to pay court costs or compensation for the damage caused, but will be subject to the statutory victim surcharge.
