A controlling boyfriend who bent his girlfriend's fingers back and punched her in the face has been spared jail, after a judge told him to leave her alone as there are "plenty more fish in the sea".

Alexander Heavens, 24, used Stacey Booth's thumb to unlock her iPhone while she was sleeping to hack into her messages and see if she was dating other men.

Heavens then interrogated her during the night about the people she had been speaking to, leaving her sleep-deprived and struggling to cope at work.

During rows, he bit her on the arm, punched her in the face and bent her fingers back so far that she thought they would break, Manchester Crown Court heard.

Heavens, from Failsworth, Greater Manchester, admitted engaging in controlling and coercive behaviour in an intimate relationship and was handed a 12-month community order. A restraining order also prevents him from contacting Miss Booth.

He blamed his offending on excessive drinking and cocaine use, and Judge Martin Rudland agreed to defer his sentence for six months so he could get off the drink and drugs and hold down his job in the demolition industry.

During a hearing at Manchester Crown Court following the deferral, the judge told Heavens that "everyone deserves a second chance" and that he should put the relationship behind him because "there are lots more fishes in the sea".