A trained boxer, who punched, strangled and bit his girlfriend in a vicious attack, has been jailed for two years despite his victim’s pleas for him not to be sent to prison.

Wayne Bayliss had drunk 11 or 12 pints of beer when he attacked his partner Lisa Doyle when they returned to their flat in Bury St Edmunds after a night out, Ipswich Crown Court heard.

Bayliss and Miss Doyle began arguing in the early hours of December 1 and when she tried to leave the flat he had blocked her path, said Laura Kenyon, prosecuting.

Miss Doyle, who had also been drinking, then realised her mouth was full of blood but did not know how it had happened.

She screamed for help and found herself on the bedroom floor with Bayliss on top of her. As she tried to get him off, Bayliss bit her left thumb causing it to bleed and at that point the couple’s neighbours, who heard Miss Doyle’s screams, opened the front door and took her out of the flat, said Miss Kenyon.

Miss Doyle suffered a swollen nose, puncture wound to her thumb, lump to her head, bruising to her back and a bloodshot eye.

Miss Kenyon said Miss Doyle had made a statement to police immediately after the attack but four days later retracted it, saying her earlier statement had been influenced by morphine, alcohol and lack of sleep.

Bayliss, 32, of Trinity Mews, Bury, admitted assaulting Miss Doyle causing her actual bodily harm. Jailing him for two years, Judge John Holt said that during the attack he “punched, strangled and bit” her.

He said he had to jail him despite Miss Doyle pleading with him in a letter not to send jail him.

Miss Kenyon told the court that the couple’s relationship started last summer but within a short time Bayliss had become suspicious and possessive.

Miss Doyle became pregnant in July and the couple moved into a flat together in August but soon afterwards Miss Doyle had a miscarriage. Alice Carver, for Bayliss, said this had a devastating impact on both of them.

She said that after his release from his last jail sentence Bayliss had tried to sort his life out, stopped drinking and started training regularly.

She said Bayliss did not remember much about the attack but was devastated he had been violent to someone he cared so much about.