A FORMER paratrooper with a black belt in kung fu who attacked two police officers outside a nightclub was back in court for assaulting his ex-girlfriend.

Edward Patrick, 29, from Chepstow, escaped going straight to jail again after he admitted grabbing his then partner during a blazing row at her Abergavenny home.

Cardiff Crown Court heard how the defendant was in breach of a six-month suspended prison sentence for assaulting two policemen outside Gloucester’s Atik club in 2019.

That city’s crown court was told how he broke the nose of one of the officers after he launched an alcohol-fuelled martial arts attack on them.

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Of Patrick’s latest offence, committed on May 3, Steven Donoghue, prosecuting, told Cardiff Crown Court: “The complainant and the defendant were in an on/off relationship.

“They had got back together six weeks before this incident occurred.

“In the days leading up to it, there had been some friction because of jealousy and arguments over other men she had been with.”

Mr Donoghue added: “On the day in question, a boisterous argument ensued between the pair, during the course of which the complainant assaulted the defendant.

“Following that, he grabbed her by her arms and he accepts he went beyond mere self-defence and acted more vigorously than he needed to.”

Patrick, of Aust Crescent, Bulwark, pleaded guilty to common assault.

He also accepted breaching his suspended jail sentence imposed for attacking the police officers in Gloucester last year.

Mr Donoghue said Patrick had received a six-month suspended prison sentence in September 2018 for another assault on his former partner.

Matt Jackson, mitigating, said the attack in May took place during the early hours of the morning and there had been “a lot of swearing from the both of them”.

He added: “The defendant overacted.”

The judge, Recorder Patrick Upward QC, told Patrick: “I think you were very fortunate before the crown court at Gloucester.

“You are going the right way to getting yourself locked up for a long time.

“It’s nothing to be proud of to be frightening your girlfriend. Be very careful in future.”

The defendant was jailed for two months, suspended for two years, and made the subject of a three-year restraining order not to contact his ex-partner.