A jilted lover who attacked his married ex-girlfriend while high on drugs has been jailed.

Stephen Paul Hopwood, of Eldon Street, York, was sentenced to 15 months jail for the attack which left victim Julie Carrington with a broken nose and a black eye.

York Crown Court was told Hopwood, who was prescribed amphetamines to combat hyperactivity, had also taken ecstasy and other illicit amphetamines before he launched the attack in May.

Prosecutor Robert Collins told the court Mrs Carrington had ended her and Hopwood's three-year relationship prior to the attack.

He said: "He went to her house, hauled her out of a chair, put her on the floor and hit her repeatedly about the head."

Hopwood had been disturbed for moment by another woman in the house but then continued to punch Mrs Carrington on the floor.

Hopwood's barrister Taryn Turner said her client was upset at Mrs Carrington ending the relationship.

She added: "He is obsessed by her and very much in love with her. He is not a man prone to committing offences of violence. He is greatly remorseful."

Judge Paul Hoffman told Hopwood: "You have saved yourself some prison time by pleading guilty at the last minute.

"You profess to love this woman, but you inflicted a violent beating on her during which you broke her nose. It is no comfort to her to know you did it because you were in a drugged-up condition."

Hopwood was also given a one-month prison term to run concurrently for breaching a previous conditional discharge.

The order was imposed by magistrates in March after Hopwood threw a chair leg through a glass front door pane at the house of Tudor Carrington, Mrs Carrington's husband.