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A roofer who attacked his girlfriend because she offered him a McDonald’s while he was on a diet has been jailed for 26 months.

Lee Barton, 28, flew into a rage and throttled Ashley Irvine after she suggested getting him a McMuffin while he was trying to lose weight.

Burly Barton shoved her onto a bed and choked her until she struggled to breathe after she offered to buy him breakfast from the fast food chain.

Barton – who also threatened to kill his lover – has now been banned from having any contact with her or even 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 that Barton’s reaction to the offer was so bad that Miss Irvine knew the relationship was coming to an end.

He said: “At 8am on Saturday 21 February Miss 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, Thomlinson Avenue, Carlisle, admitted attacking Ashley Irvine at Dunnock Park in Perth between September and November last year by compressing her throat.

He admitted assaulting her again on 21 February 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.

Mr Letford said: “Miss Irvine described the relationship as awful and she is extremely fearful and frightened of the accused. She said she was walking on eggshells around the accused because of fears about how he would react.”

The court heard that he had attacked her in a similar manner last autumn when she tried to usher him out of the house.

“He grabbed her by the throat and choked her until she felt she could not breath,” the fiscal depute told the court.

When he was quizzed by police over that incident, Barton said his intention was to “teach her a lesson.”

Barton had a further year’s supervised release imposed and was made subject to a three year non-harassment order in a bid to keep him away from his victim.