A FAILED Facebook romance led to a street attack in which a man punching his ex-girlfriend so hard that she was knocked off her feet.

Ashley Watson refused to be brushed off when the woman told him to leave her alone and followed her around Kingsteignton trying to hug her.

She spurned his advances and he tried to hug her repeatedly until she slapped him gently in the face to get him to stop.

Watson responded with a single punch which lifted her into the air and left her with a shattered jaw and a face injury that needed stitches to repair it.

The woman, from Newton Abbot, could not eat normal food for weeks, is still suffering panic attacks and night terrors and fears going out on her own.

She had been helping friends in Kingsteignton look after their horses in March last year before Watson turned up and started following her around and pestering her.

Watson, aged 33, previously of Kingsteignton but now of Monkton Avenue, Weston-super-Mare, admitted wounding and was jailed for 11 months, suspended for 18 months by Recorder Mr Timothy Kenefick at Exeter Crown Court.

He was ordered to pay £500 compensation, attend a 30 session Building Better Relationships course, do 120 hours unpaid community work, and banned from further contact with the victim by a restraining order.

He told him: ‘You were described as punching her with a huge amount of force and taking her off her feet. It was clearly quite a blow.’

He said he was suspending the sentence so Watson could work on his issues of temper and anger management.

Mr Herc Ashworth, prosecuting, said Watson met the woman through Facebook, where they had mutual friends and had dates a few times before she decided not to continue the relationship.

Watson started following her around when she was helping a friend look after horses on March 29 last year and followed her as she walked home, trying to hug her.

She got fed up with his attempts and slapped him gently on the face with an open palm twice when he refused to leave her alone. He then punched her once with full force in full view of a passing motorist.

Watson tried to hug her again as she sat on the pavement with blood pouring from her mouth but when she spurned him, he told her she was fat, ugly and would die alone.

Police traced him later that night and he claimed to be acting in self-defence.

Mr Will Parkhill, defending, said Watson would benefit more from addressing his issues of anger management in the community rather than going to jail.

He said he has moved away to Weston-Super-Mare where he has a new partner and is living a more stable life.