A “jealous and controlling” man grabbed his partner by the throat and threatened to kill her during a row, it has been claimed.

Nathan Craig allegedly pushed the woman to the ground and then pulled her to her feet while holding her throat with his hands, Ipswich Crown Court was told.

He allegedly told her he was going to kill her and squeezed her throat so hard that she struggled to breathe.

“She believed he would carry out the threat,” Nicola May, prosecuting, told the court.

Craig, 27, of Fritton Court, Haverhill, has pleaded not guilty to using coercive and controlling behaviour, making a threat to kill, assault causing actual bodily harm and assault by beating.

Miss May claimed that during Craig’s relationship with the alleged victim he had been controlling and violent towards her.

On one occasion, when she was in a wheelchair in Bury St Edmunds with her leg in a cast following an accident, he had allegedly tipped her out of the wheelchair causing her to fall to the floor.

He then allegedly kicked the leg that was in the cast, Miss May said.

Craig also allegedly stopped the woman leaving the house by pushing her away from the door, accused her of having sex with other people and accompanied her when she went out with friends and family, Miss May told the court.

Craig had also bought the woman’s clothes and her family noticed that if she was wearing shorts and a T-shirt on a hot day, she would cover them with a jumper and jeans if Craig came round.

The woman also allegedly gave up work because Craig made her life so difficult and she had stopped wearing make-up after he accused her of wearing it for other people rather than him, Miss May said.

She alleged that Craig had also punched the woman several times in the thigh and hip during an argument at a friend’s house and had picked her up and dropped her on the floor.

Following his arrest, Craig “completely and utterly” denied assaulting the woman and accused her of causing injuries to herself.

He denied controlling her and claimed she had made up the allegations to get him into trouble.

The trial continues.