HEIRESS Chloe Pidgley thought handsome Antonio Henry was the perfect gentleman when she met him.

But five months later, she feared his snarling face would be the last thing she ever saw as he pinned her down and beat her.

He broke into Chloe’s £2.5million flat, choked and punched her then smashed a portable radiator over her head.

Last month Henry, 30, was jailed after admitting assault and criminal damage.

Today, Chloe is breaking her silence about the horror attack. She told The Sun on Sunday: “If it can happen to me, it can happen to anyone.

“I want to encourage others in abusive relationships to get help before things escalate.”

Bubbly Chloe, 26, is the granddaughter of Berkeley Homes founder Tony Pidgley and is expected to inherit a share of his £310million empire along with other family.

At 18, she inherited a sum which she spent on buying a three-bedroom pad in Earl’s Court, West London.

Chloe, who worked as a receptionist at a chain of exclusive restaurants, was happy and confident.

But that changed when she met jobless Henry, a loner with a history of drug dealing and violence, at a party in January 2018.

She said: “He was friends with my friends and seemed sweet. But later I found out he had hidden his past.”

They started dating. Henry cooked her dinners and did jobs round her apartment.

Chloe said: “I did not want anything serious because I had just come out of a two-year relationship. But things developed quickly — he always seemed to be at my flat.”

He soon became aggressive and refused to leave her home for days on end.

Chloe said: “He was smoking a lot of weed. He didn’t go out. We argued and he cut me off from my friends.

“He would steal my things then jump out of the window and disappear. I tried to help him find a job but it never worked out.”

The couple decided to have a break. After two weeks Chloe ended it for good.

She said: “He got abusive. He bombarded me, my mum and sister with aggressive texts. He threatened to attack me with acid and stab me and anyone he saw me out with.”

Henry began turning up at Chloe’s flat and fleeing when she called the police. But she did not make an official complaint.

Chloe said: “I stupidly didn’t want to get him into trouble.” When she met Henry in public to return his belongings, he threw a bottle at her, pulled out a knife and punched her face before chasing her as she ran off.

Chloe got home but he broke in. She fled and later returned to find her TV smashed.

She called the police, who marked her address “at risk”. Days later Henry carried out the bedroom attack.

Chloe said: “I was in the living room with my flatmate when we heard this smash.

“I ran into my bedroom and saw he had broken a window and climbed in.

“I tried to run back but he slammed the door on my hand, fracturing it. I screamed and cried.”

Then Henry launched himself on top of her. Chloe said: “He was sitting on my chest. I couldn’t breathe.

“He started punching my face. I thought, ‘This is it, I am going to die.’ I curled up in the foetal position. Then he got off the bed and kicked my head.

“He threw a big, heavy, chair at me — and that’s when he picked up this radiator that I keep next to the bed for winter and smashed it over my head.

“My blood was on the walls. I pleaded with him to stop.

“We were barricaded in the room — my housemate was a man but could not get in to help me.” Henry then smashed up the flat before jumping from the window.

But before he left, he threatened to come back with acid. Chloe and her housemate called her mum and the police, and Henry went on the run.

She said: “He was on the run for three months and telling people I had twisted things.

“I got really low. I stopped going to the gym and put on weight. I left my job. I feared something would happen again. My mum got the flat redecorated.

“I moved back in with two friends but I would push furniture in front of the doors to stop anyone getting in.”

Henry’s trial at Isleworth Crown Court last month has helped Chloe to start rebuilding her life.

She said: “He wouldn’t just admit what he did and wanted to put me through a trial.

"But when he pleaded guilty and the judge sentenced him to 21 months, I felt good.”

Chloe is seeing a counsellor and seeking help through domestic abuse charities.

She said: “I found out Antonio was known to the police — an ex took out a restraining order and he had previous convictions for drug dealing and assault.

“And even though he said he lived in Chelsea, he was actually living in a hostel.

“You can be manipulated. People from all walks of life fall victim to domestic abuse.