Paul Parsons (38), of Main Street, Huthwaite, struck Joanne Beardsley so hard she needed seven stitches to sew up a cut on her scalp.

Nottingham Crown Court was told on Tuesday he had been helping her to decorate her home.

Prosecutor Jon Fountain said they had split up after a relationship but were still friends.

Parsons drank six cans of lager while they watched a television programme on 14th January about the origin of species and she queried whether we were descended from monkeys.

"'You probably are', he told her," said Mr Fountain.

When seen by police, Parsons said Miss Beardsley had been abusive about his nephew and deserved what she got.

He had previous convictions for threatening behaviour, excess alcohol, racially aggravated threats and court breaches.

His barrister, Sarah Knight, told the court that Parsons recognises his alcohol use has got out of control.

He had been haunted by a fatality he witnessed during an accident in 2002 and suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder.

But he had held down a job at an engineering firm for five years.

Judge Dudley Bennett told Parsons: "You are clearly hard working when not full of drink but your pattern of offending shows a misuse of drink and drugs as well as violence."