A City insurance executive has avoided jail after he grabbed his 'petrified' girlfriend by her throat and lifted her onto her tiptoes in a row outside his £1.6million west London flat.
Howard James Burnell, 62, was convicted of assaulting his then-girlfriend Mary Phillips in the doorway of his flat in Richmond, where they both lived, after a dinner date on March 14.
The former head of Marine & Energy Liability was ousted from his lucrative directorship at insurance giants Apollo when news of the late-night attack broke.
Wimbledon Magistrates' Court heard how Burnell, a divorced father-of-two, inflicted bruising to the throat and thigh of Ms Phillips when they rowed after an evening out.