A man allegedly told his ex-partner he would not stop beating her until she was dead following a terrifying early-morning assault.

Manuel Poillot, 32, of no fixed abode, went on trial at Reading Crown Court yesterday (April 3).

He denies charges of assault occasioning actual bodily harm and intentional strangulation.

On October 7 last year, Poillot and his ex-partner were going through a divorce.

They went for a meal with their neighbours in Slough, returning in the early hours of the morning.

Prosecuting barrister Daisy Kell-Jones told jurors that there was a row, with Poillot initially refusing to let his partner into the flat they shared.

After allowing her in, he then went out, with his partner assuming he had gone to the shops.

He allegedly snuck back into the flat while the woman slept.

Mrs Kell-Jones told jurors: "The Crown say that the defendant then grabbed the complainant around her neck and began to squeeze, to the point where she couldn't scream out."

The prosecution claim that Poillot beat the woman, leaving her with a bloodied lip.

Following the attack, the complainant says she asked Poillot when the violence would end.

To this, he allegedly responded: "When I kill you."

Ultimately, the woman was able to escape, running to Slough police station - where she made a formal complaint.

Her injuries were photographed by investigators, and these images were produced for the jury.

The trial continues.