A JEALOUS boyfriend battered his lover with a Henry Hoover after fearing she was cheating on him.

Violent Sharif Rasul, 45, grabbed the vacuum cleaner to beat mum-of-three Jodie Thomas repeatedly over the head and face leaving her with a black eye and swollen lips.

A court heard he let himself into their former home in Aberfan, South Wales, in the middle of the night.

Jodie fled to a neighbour’s house and crept back in later hoping Rasul had left.

Prosecutor Oliver Harris said: “He was asleep but woke when she stood on a creaky floorboard.

“Rasul picked up her Henry the Hoover which he used as a weapon.

“There was significant physical violence.”

Rasul, of Merthyr Tydfil, admitted actual bodily harm, making a threat to kill and breaching a restraining order and was jailed for 20 months.

Last night Jodie who was with Rasul for five years after meeting in a pub, bravely spoke out about her ordeal.

She told The Sun: “Things were fine to start but he had a very jealous streak.

“He picked up the cylinder and used it to hit me.

"I know hoovers are not your typical weapon but it shows that in a domestic violence situation that normal household objects can be used with violence.

"I'm glad he’s been locked up now and I've got my freedom again.

"It wasn't the first time he had been violent but I never imagined he would attack me with the Henry.

"I've locked it away in a cupboard ever since and I'm using an old fashioned brush to clean up now.”

Merthyr Tydfil Crown Court heard father-of-five Rasul had 19 previous convictions for 40 offences.

Nicholas Gedge, defending, said: “Henry the Hoover is not a conventional weapon so it wasn’t a serious threat to kill.

“He is thoroughly ashamed and believes his drink had been spiked that night.”

Judge Philip Harris-Jenkins told Rasul: “In an act of jealousy you picked up the hoover and used it to hit your former partner over the head.

“She thought she was going to die at your hands such was the brutality of the attack on her.

“It was a sustained incident of violence which was unprovoked.”