A man who assaulted his former partner and her new boyfriend after finding them in bed together at her Ipswich home has been jailed for eight months.

Lynne Mayhew and Darren Sherman woke up at 9am at her home in Campbell Road to find Paul Evans, who was “extremely angry”, standing at the foot of the bed, Ipswich Crown Court heard.

Evans started shouting “get off my girlfriend” and then told Mr Sherman he was going to “beat the hell” out of him, said Richard Kelly, prosecuting.

He then went to Mr Sherman’s side of the bed and started swinging punches at him and pulled off his glasses, which broke.

Mr Sherman covered his head with his hands to protect himself and Evans shouted at Miss Mayhew that he had warned her what would happen if she started seeing anyone else.

Miss Mayhew tried to protect Mr Sherman but Evans had grabbed her by the hair and pulled her out of the way, said Mr Kelly.

When Miss Mayhew tried again to intervene she was punched in the face by Evans resulting in a cut to her lip, scratches and bruising.

Miss Mayhew’s son heard screaming and went into the bedroom and tried to get Evans away from his mother while his friend called the police.

Mr Sherman managed to get out of the bedroom and fled downstairs while Miss Mayhew shut the bedroom door and sat down on the floor to stop Evans leaving the room.

The court heard that Evans and Miss Mayhew had been in a relationship for nine months before it ended in April last year.

Evans, 51, who now lives in Portsmouth, admitted two offences of assault causing actual bodily harm to Miss Mayhew and Mr Sherman on July 20 last year.

In addition to being jailed was made the subject of a restraining order banning him from contacting his two victims.

Catherine Bradshaw, representing Evans, said her client had gone to the house to collect some of his belongings and a “red mist” had come down when he saw Miss Mayhew in bed with Mr Sherman.

She said Evans hadn’t intended to hurt Miss Mayhew and she had been caught in the crossfire.

She said Evans had now reduced his drinking and had stopped using cannabis and was living in Portsmouth with a new partner.