A mum kept a secret diary of the harrowing abuse she suffered at the hands of her boyfriend so it could be used as evidence if he killed her.

The woman logged, on a mobile phone app, a detailed and dated written record, with pictures, documenting the sickening attacks by Michael Robinson over an 18-month period. Newcastle Crown Court heard on top of regular violent assaults, the brute repeatedly caused damage in her home, dictated what she wore and who she saw.

He spat in her face, threw food at her and even urinated on her belongings in a bid to have a "big man reputation". Robinson, 24, of Tilbury Road, Sunderland, who admitted controlling and coercive behaviour, has now been jailed for three years and eight months and issued with a restraining order to keep him away from the woman.

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Judge Amanda Rippon told him: "Contained within the account of 18 months of physical, emotional and verbal abuse, control and manipulation are multiple common assaults, including by beating and some by spitting, multiple assaults occasioning actual bodily harm, at least two offences of wounding and during the course of the assaults you used household implements as weapons.

"You headbutted your victim, there were multiple criminal damages, there were threats to damage property, threats to kill your victim, you have driven her towards a bridge threatening to throw her off it, there are false imprisonments, multiple assaults by strangulation."

Prosecutor Neil Pallister told the court the relationship had started off good but added: "She said the last two years were a nightmare for her because of the defendant's extremely violent behaviour towards her. She became so frightened she believed she would end up dead.

"She described how she kept a diary of all the times he assaulted her. Her reason for doing so was if she was killed by him there would be a record of what had been going on. She described on occasion she ended up in hospital and would make up a story to explain her injuries."

Mr Pallister outlined in detail the cruel torment and attacks the woman was subjected to. One of the violent outbursts, which the victim said "I will never forget" happened when her girlfriends asked her to go out for a birthday drink and she knew she had to ask for Robinson's permission.

Mr Pallister said: "She knew what the answer would be and said she wished she had not asked. She described the defendant smashing his phone off her face. She dropped to the floor and put her body in a ball trying to protect herself.

"He picked up a child's plastic table and smashed it over her, around six times then did the same with a plastic chair." Mr Pallsiter said the woman was eventually dragged out of the house and into the car. Robinson drove "dangerously" towards the city and warned her "I'm going to f****** kill you, I'm going to toss you off the f****** bridge. He punched her straight in the mouth."

In another attack, in which she said "he wanted to damage my face", the victim suffered a wound above her eyebrow, which needed to be stitched. A few months later Robinson put his hands around the woman's throat and squeezed until she fell to her knees and was sick.

The court heard after the woman had been going to the gym and lost some weight, Robinson told her she was "pretty now" before he headbutted her in the face. She described him attacking her "like an animal" during another violent episode, said he "urinated on everything", regularly spat in her face, threw food at her, pulled her hair extensions out and did not like her wearing certain outfits such as leggings.

The woman said life was like "the olden days", with Robinson, who called her a "rat" and "fat", demanding his dinner cooked and bath run when he returned home from work. During one attack he nipped her legs while telling her to "get cancer and die".

In an impact statement, the woman said Robinson wanted to "feel in control" of her, did not want her to have friends and wanted to hold onto a "big man reputation". She said her relationship with Robinson is "like a forever dark cloud" and added he had threatened to kill her and any new man she formed a relationship with in future. She said: "I know he's capable of it."

Katie Spence, defending, said Robinson has never been in trouble before, has suffered bereavement and is "capable of change". Miss Spence added: "He has accepted the relationship has broken down, he doesn't want contact with the complainant and does not object to the restraining order.

"He would like help. He would take any help the court would offer him."