A terrified teenager sent an SOS text to her mother after being attacked by her lover who squeezed her neck so tightly she passed out.

The 19-year-old had been throttled by her jealous lover and wrote a desperate message urging her mum to call the police during a stay at the King Charles Hotel in Gillingham.

She was also repeatedly punched in the face by her boyfriend, Nathan Lewis, who has been jailed after admitting the attack at Maidstone Crown Court.

Prosecutor Peter Forbes told the court how the victim realised she "had to be nice" if she wanted to escape the vicious attack.

Her mother had become concerned about her missing daughter and had dialled 101 to report her concerns when she received the text on the morning of February 22.

The court heard she wrote to her mum saying: "King Charles Hotel. Call the police!"

Lewis, 21, calmly placed their room key on the reception desk and strolled out while hotel staff tried to calm the hyperventilating victim.

But he maintained that although he grabbed his then girlfriend by the neck he did not strangle her and said if any threats to kill were uttered by him they would have been made "in the heat of the moment".

Lewis, of Leicester Road, Maidstone, admitted assault causing actual bodily harm and has been jailed for 16 months.

In a victim statement read to the court, she detailed her "incredibly traumatic" relationship with Lewis.

She spoke of how he took advantage of her vulnerability and that she would "never understand his inherent cruelty" which has left her suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder and her former partner was manipulative and "loved having complete control".

Family members also feared for her life when they were together, she added.

The court heard: "This violent destructive connection - I will not call it a relationship - robbed me of everything. I was drawn in again and again.

"He used my caring nature to continue to abuse me, rob me of my dignity and self-worth and anything that was good in my life.

"As he was trying to strangle me I was saying sorry so he would stop. I was desperately trying to survive. I thought that day would be my last. I thought I would die.

"I fear for women in the future so I hope by supporting this prosecution today, other females will be spared this horrendous trauma I have suffered.

'"As he was trying to strangle me I was saying sorry so he would stop. I was desperately trying to survive..."

"I have closed the door tightly shut. The end happened the day I left that hotel room. I am pleased to say this was the end of a horror story."

The judge heard how incidents of violence had previously been reported to police during their year-long relationship but the victim did not support any potential action.

Mr Forbes said the hotel attack was triggered by a phone call in which a female friend invited her to a male friend's home.

Lewis claimed he did not care if she went, only to then punch her several times.

"She remembers a blow to her cheek which caused a cut inside her mouth, punches to her left eye which caused bruising and a punch to her nose," he told the court.

"She also said the defendant put his hands totally around her neck, squeezing so hard that she found it difficult to breathe.

"He then said 'This is it, this is the end. I'm going to kill you'. She then passed out."

When she regained consciousness, Lewis started apologising.

But she suffered a panic attack and was restrained by her boyfriend putting his hand over her mouth.

It was then that she realised she "needed to be nice" to Lewis so she could escape the hotel, said Mr Forbes.

"The victim personal statement makes plain how traumatic she found this incident..." Judge Adele Williams

Witnesses reported seeing her running towards staff shouting: "Call the police, call the police. He tried to kill me."

As well as the cut and bruising, she had reddening to her neck, the prosecutor added.

Lewis has previous convictions including assaulting police, arson, criminal damage, burglary and assisting a child to run away.

He was also described as vulnerable, suffered from depression, and been diagnosed with an emotionally unstable personality disorder.

Jailing him, Judge Adele Williams said the assault was sustained and repeated.

She said: "You put your hands around her throat and squeezed. You punched her repeatedly to her face. The victim personal statement makes plain how traumatic she found this incident."

Lewis was also given a five-year restraining order.

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