A WOMAN beater who forced his latest partner to go on a terrifying night drive after throttling her and threatening to kill her in her home has been jailed for five years.

Ricky Wells, 30, continued attacking the woman as he drove at speed, jumping red lights, said Ashleigh Metcalfe, prosecuting.

He had made the death threat while waving a large kitchen knife and before forcing her into the car in such a way that “she didn’t even have a chance to put her shoes on”, the barrister told York Crown Court.

During the drive through Scarborough, she feared Wells would drive off a cliff and screamed for help without getting any. He ripped her top exposing her underwear, said Ms Metcalfe.

The court heard he has previous convictions for harassing and attacking earlier partners and his sister. One of the women was pregnant when he assaulted her.

“Any woman who gets involved with you in the future needs to look out because you are a woman beater,” the Recorder of York, Judge Sean Morris, told Wells.

“You think you have the right to control people’s lives, women who are involved in your life, and you don’t.”

He jailed Wells for five years for what he called a “shocking series of offences.”

Wells, of no fixed address, pleaded guilty to false imprisonment of the woman, causing her actual bodily harm, dangerous driving and criminal damage to her phone.

He also banned him from driving for four years and four months, ordered him to take an extended driving test before driving alone again and made him subject to a restraining order banning him from contacting the woman for 10 years.

For Wells, David Camidge, said he had been doing two jobs and been under stress at the times.

“Things got too much for him and effectively he lost his head,” said the solicitor advocate. “His behaviour he feels, looking back, was appalling.”

Ms Metcalfe said Wells and the woman had been in a relationship. On March 21, 2022, he got so annoyed that she had posted on another man’s Facebook page that she left her home, returning only after asking him to leave the house. He did so, taking the house keys with him and she couldn’t lock herself in when she arrived home.

At 9.30pm, he returned and demanded her phone which he threw on the floor and smashed.

“At that point, the defendant’s demeanour dramatically changed for the worse,” said Ms Metcalfe.

He throttled the woman, leaving a red mark on her neck and slapped and hit her. Then he got the knife.

The car journey ended back at the woman’s house. Her throat was so sore from the throttling she thought she had tonsilitis, and she had swelling and bruising on her face and upper arms.

Mr Camidge said Wells thought he had put his criminal issues behind him. He had come to Scarborough to start a new life.