A 34-year-old man who attempted to strangle his ex-partner has been fined £400 after breaching the conditions of his 12-month suspended jail sentence. 

David Ward of Russell Road, Felixstowe, was before Ipswich Crown Court on Thursday after admitting he had allowed the battery on his GPS monitoring tag to run flat and failing to charge it on two occasions.

The court heard there were also five other occasions where he had failed to keep the tag charged but no action was taken. 

On January 28 this year he said the battery had gone flat while he slept so did not charge it and on February 1 he said he had gone to work and forgot to take the charger with him.

Ward had no representation and spoke for himself during the hearing. 

Judge Richard Kelly told him: “The law says I must send you to prison for 12 months unless it is unjust.”

Ward responded: “I apologise for this situation. I can’t say anything else. I understand the severity of the situation."

Judge Kelly told him alternatively he could be fined.

“Whatever judgement gets put on me that’s what I would accept.” Ward replied.

A probation officer told the judge Ward had complied well with the rehabilitative elements of his suspended sentence including alcohol abstinence.

Judge Kelly fined Ward £400 rather than activating the sentence.

He said: “I think you can probably tell you are getting a very last chance. It is not acceptable for you to forget to charge your device.”