Man jailed for throttling his girlfriend after she offered him a McMuffin while he was on a diet

A man who brutally attacked his girlfriend because she offered him a McDonald's McMuffin while he was on a diet has been jailed for more than two years. Lee Barton flew into a rage and throttled Ashley Irvine after she suggested getting him a McMuffin while he was trying to lose weight. The 28-year-old shoved her onto a bed and choked her until she struggled to breathe. Barton, who also threatened to kill his partner, has now been banned from having any contact with her or entering her home street for the next three years.Sheriff Lindsay Foulis said: "The matters to which you pled guilty are serious. I consider custody is the appropriate way of dealing with it. I consider you pose a risk of serious harm to the public." Fiscal depute Gavin Letford told Perth Sheriff Court: "At 8am on Saturday February 21, Ms Irvine asked if he wanted a McDonald's breakfast. In response, he started to argue with her, accusing her of starting on him and winding him up because he was on a diet. The accused stormed off to Asda before returning a short time later. On his return she describes him as being in a foul mood. "She could see the relationship between them was coming to an end.
"She went upstairs to take her wages from a locked box so she would have money for her and her children once the accused left. The accused followed her upstairs and confronted her in the bedroom. She had the money in her hand and he grabbed it from her and threatened to burn it in front of her. He attempted to light it with his lighter. He sparked the lighter but it failed to ignite the bundle of money. He raised his fist as if to punch her and she screamed. "He pinned her down on the bed by the throat. He had his hands round her throat and continued to choke her. He compressed her throat and stated, 'I'm going to kill you'."Mr Letford said she escaped by telling Barton she was texting a friend to meet for coffee but instead she told the friend what happened and got them to call 999.
Barton was arrested and initially denied throttling his lover, but admitted squeezing her face and told officers he "would have killed her". Barton, of Carlisle, Cumbria, admitted attacking Ashley Irvine at Dunnock Park in Perth, Scotland, between September and November last year by compressing her throat. He admitted assaulting her again on February 21 by grabbing her throat, shoving her onto a bed and compressing her throat while making threats of violence. He admitted seizing bank notes from her hand and threatening to burn them. Barton was sentenced to two years and two months in jail, had a further year of supervised release imposed and was made subject to a three-year non-harassment order in a bid to keep him away from his victim.