A RAGING boyfriend who armed himself with a Viking broadsword after a drunken argument with his partner in a Chagford pub and later attacked her with his bare hands has received a suspended jail sentence.

Alexander Boy kept the weapon as an ornament in the staff quarters at the hotel where he worked and threatened to use it to cut up a workmate who tried to calm him down.

Boy first produced the sword, which was in its scabbard, in the Sandy Park Inn at Chagford where he thought his girlfriend had been talking to another man.

He went back to his quarters at the nearby Mill End Hotel with his partner Emma Parkinson but then attacked her and started to throttle her on his bed.

He picked up the Viking sword for a second time after other staff at the hotel went to her rescue, telling them he would kill them and their families.

Police had to pursue him onto a flat roof and taser him before he was arrested and the sword was recovered from his room, still in its sheath.

Boy, aged 25, of Longbrook Street, Exeter, admitted possession of a bladed weapon in public and three counts of battery or common assault.

He was jailed for 14 months, suspended for two years by Judge Peter Johnson at Exeter Crown Court, who imposed an alcohol treatment requirement.

He was also ordered to do 100 hours unpaid community work, 20 days of rehabilitation activities and to pay £100 compensation.

He told him: ‘Some would say this was a dreadful incident which included a sustained attack on your partner, but on the other hand I have to look at your personal mitigation and your prospects of rehabilitation.

‘The reports from the probation and addiction services merit me giving you the opportunity to grapple with the demons of alcohol. You are described as being extremely motivated to engage.”

Nigel Wraith, prosecuting, said the incident with the sword started on the night of November 11 last year when Boy and Ms Parkinson were drinking at the Sandy Park Inn.

She went outside for a smoke and he became jealous and went to fetch the sword, which he was seen with during an argument with another man.

Ms Parkinson persuaded him to return to his staff quarters at the Mill End Hotel but he was still angry and jealous and attacked her as she tried to pacify him.

He pinned her to the bed with his hands around her throat and she later told police she feared he was going to kill her.

Other members of staff heard her calling for help and went into the room. Boy broke off the attack but then turned his aggression towards them.

He picked up the sword and threatened to ‘slice them up’ kill them or their families.

He went on to assault Ms Parkinson again on May 15 this year, when he was living with her again in breach of his bail conditions. They had an argument during which he hit the back of her head, leaving visible bruising behind the ears.

Rachel Smith, defending, said Boy has no previous convictions and the roots of his offending were a problem with alcohol.

She said he had received a positive report from the addiction service Together and was very keen to work with them to address the issue.