A 28-year-old Coleford man who attacked his fiancee and left her for dead in a pool of blood only hours after they got engaged was finally jailed for the offence today - because he has twice flouted the terms of his suspended prison sentence.

Steven Webley, formerly of Bowens Hill Road, admitted at Gloucester Crown Court that he had failed to comply with his unpaid work order for the second time.

Judge Jamie Tabor QC told Webley he had no alternative but to implement the ten month suspended jail term that had been passed at Newcastle on Tyne Crown court last January.

But the judge said he took into account the hours of work Webley had managed to do and he therefore reduced the sentence to six months custody.

Webley, who had been arrested on a warrant after failing to turn up at court on January 3, appeared to be suffering a panic attack from the moment he stepped into the dock. He was gasping for breath and clutching his chest as the case was heard.

His solicitor Steve Young said he was in ’utter terror’ of going to prison - but when the judge passed sentence Webley’s panicky symptoms vanished.

Webley had pleaded guilty at Newcastle last year to assaulting new fiancee Stephanie Borrowdale, 27, causing her actual bodily harm and doing criminal damage.

The court heard then that Webley and his girlfriend had friends round at their home Newcastle home when Webley proposed to Miss Borrowdale. But after the friends left he accused her of cheating on him and attacked her.

Miss Borrowdale suffered a shattered nose and was left unconscious on the floor.