A MAN has been jailed for three months after he attacked his fiance - an assault that he thought was so bad that he called emergency services in the belief he had killed her.

Michael Elton, 52, was sentenced at Basingstoke magistrates court having previously pleaded guilty to assaulting Marina Richardson, 69, by beating, and to being threatening and abusive towards a police officer.

Prosecutor Jo Rees said Elton, of Sandys Road, South Ham, Basingstoke, called an ambulance and the police at 11pm on March 22, saying he had hit Miss Richardson on the head and killed her.

When the emergency service crews arrived, they found her alive, but with a bruise above her eye where she had been hit.

Elton was then threatening and abusive towards them.

In a later police interview, Elton claimed the assault on Miss Richardson had been an accident.

"He said he was shadow boxing and told Miss Richardson to duck, which she didn't do," said the prosecutor.

"He hit her on the side of the face causing it to swell up."

Elton had been drinking heavily because he was angry at an alleged incident earlier that day, and had told police: "I hit her too hard. I was angry because gypsies stole my bike."

Sarah Dickinson, defending, said her client is an alcoholic with a long-standing antipathy towards the police.

"In Edinburgh, where he used to live with his wife and son, there was an accident in the 1980s where a police vehicle ran over and killed his wife and son," she said. "This goes some way towards explaining why he has such hostility towards them."

She added: "This particular assault has been a wake-up call for him because it was against someone he dearly loves."

But Deputy District Judge Aleck Ormerod told Elton he had an "appalling record", including assaults and public order offences, which, together with the nature of the latest incident, made custody inevitable.

Sentencing him to a total of three months in prison, the judge said: "I'm told this is a wake-up call. You seem to have had numerous wake-up calls in the past. I hope this one is successful."

First published: Friday, April 29, 2005