TWO schoolgirls watched as a man attempted to strangle his ex-partner - lifting her feet off the ground as he did.

TWO schoolgirls watched as a man attempted to strangle his ex-partner - lifting her feet off the ground as he did.

Matthew Page became enraged when he saw the car belonging to his girlfriend's previous partner parked in her driveway at 4pm on January 19.

When his partner, Donna Edwards, came to her front door, in St Johns Street, Ipswich, he began throttling her and told her he was going to kill her and the man she had in the house.

Page, 29, of Woodbridge Road, Ipswich, pleaded guilty to a charge of assault by beating at South East Suffolk Magistrates' Court.

Andrea Reynolds, prosecuting, said: “This prosecution is based on evidence by a neighbour and two schoolgirls who watched the attack.

“The defendant had been around and spoke to the neighbour earlier on in the day.

“He explained to that neighbour that he was Donna's boyfriend and that her ex's car was parked in the driveway.

“The neighbour then watched from her flat as the incident happened.”

The neighbour reported seeing Page lunge forwards and start to strangle her shouting that he was going to kill her and saying he knew what she had been up to.

He tried to push past her to get inside but she did not want to let him in.

Two girls watched the same incident from the bus they were sitting on and one of them said they could see the victim's feet being lifted from the ground as they did.

Ian Duckworth, mitigating, said: “When he first went around to the neighbour he asked to borrow a pen and piece of paper to leave a note so he was not in an enraged state.”

Page was given a community order with 120 hours of unpaid work.