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A man has been jailed for breaking his girlfriend’s jaw after she criticised his favourite popstar Nicki Minaj.

Matthew Scargill went “mental” and accused Kelly Towey of being jealous after she complained about the US singer ‘pulling faces’ during performances.

The 25-year-old then followed his girlfriend from the living room into the bedroom where he hurled a bottle of nail varnish at the wall, smashing it and showering her with the contents.

He then punched his 24-year-old partner with such force that her jaw was broken and required a metal plate to be fitted.

Manchester Crown Court heard that Ms Towey's 18-month-old son was woken by the violent row, which took place late at night at her home in Chorlton, Manchester.

Scargill stormed out of the house, and in a final act of spite took Ms Towey's mobile phone and charger so that she could not call for help.

Scargill, from Wythenshawe, Manchester, admitted grievous bodily harm at an earlier hearing and has now been locked up for 18 months.

Ms Towey is no longer in a relationship with him.

Simon Barrett, prosecuting, told the court that on September 21 last year the couple were celebrating after Ms Towey had been accepted onto a college course.

The pair had drunk several cans of cider each when Minaj, whose last single Pound the Alarm was a top 10 hit, came on the TV.

Ms Towey said she didn't like Minaj 'because of the faces she pulls', sending Scargill, who she had been dating for eight weeks, into a sudden fury.

She told police: "Matthew just switched and started shouting at me and going mental, saying it's because I've got nothing, and I'm jealous of her."

Brendon O'Leary, defending, said that Scargill had not realised 'the extent of the injuries he inflicted' on the victim with his punch when he left injured and without her phone.

He said the workshop engineer had 'committed an offence which is completely out of character for him'.

Mr O'Leary added: "He deeply regrets his actions, he wishes to apologise.

"He fully accepts what he did was wrong, he fully accepts that he can't act that way, he wants and accepts punishment.

"He accepts the injury he caused her was a serious and grievous one."

Judge Iain Hamilton, sentencing, rejected Mr O'Leary's suggestion that Scargill could be punished with a suspended sentence and an order to pay the victim compensation.

Sending him down, Judge Hamilton told shame-faced Scargill: "She sustained a broken jaw that had to be fixed with a plate requiring four metal screws to be inserted.

"She had to have three teeth removed, had stitches in her mouth and cheek and was in hospital for four days while that procedure was carried out.

"It's had a significant continuing impact on her life, she still suffers numbness and difficulties eating, she describes being depressed and withdrawn, and she lost the place at college which she had been celebrating that night."