A CHEATING paramedic has been suspended for a year for attacking his lover when she found texts from another woman on his phone.

Gary Evans, 53, left his victim with face fractures after she confronted him in bed about the messages.

The ambulance worker pleaded guilty to inflicting grievous bodily harm on his girlfriend, and was given a suspended 10-month sentence in November 2015.

Evans was given a nine-month suspension from working as a paramedic in December 2016 because of his conviction, but told his punishment would be reviewed at a later date.

He was brought before the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC) panel last week where the hearing was told he must serve another one year suspension before he can return to work.

A misconduct panel decided to suspend Evans for a second time - even though he had already finished serving a previous nine-month suspension.

The HCPC said Evans was "not there yet" in terms of being ready to return to his job.

Panel Chair Paul Grant said: "The panel considered that Mr Evans has demonstrated a limited development in his insight and he has expressed genuine remorse for his actions.

"He appears to have started down the path to remediation and full insight, but is not there yet."

At the time, Newport Crown Court heard the two Welsh Ambulance Service workers had been in an "on and off" relationship for a few years before the "brutal assault".

The victim had spent the evening watching rugby at Evans' home in New Inn, near Pontypool, before they both went to bed.

She tried to browse the internet on her phone after failing to get to sleep, but used Evans' after hers couldn't get any signal - and stumbled upon messages from his secret lover.

During the court hearing, prosecutor Andrew Kendall said: "After she woke him up, he denied cheating and became angry.

"During a scuffle the victim bit Evans, which led to him grabbing her by the throat and unleashing a flurry of punches to her face."

She suffered bruising and "multiple facial fractures" which required surgery.

Judge Daniel Williams told him: "She feared you were going to kill her. No doubt you do live with the consequences of what you did, but it is far easier for you than it is for her."