A man who said that he “identifies as the Joker” from the Batman comic book stories and films tried to kill his former girlfriend when she tried to end their relationship.
Anthony Yewman, 45, persuaded Jenny Dalton to leave a women’s refuge in Seaford and go back to her home where he strangled her twice.
Yewman, who said that Miss Dalton was “his Harley Quinn”, is on trial by jury for a charge of attempted murder at Southampton Crown Court.
He faces alternative charges of trying to cause her grievous bodily harm (GBH) and intentionally strangling her.
Matthew Farmer, prosecuting, said that the pair had a difficult on-off relationship for about two years and Yewman, from Romford, east London, had stalked and become obsessed with Miss Dalton.
At one point, the jury was told, Yewman camped in Miss Dalton’s garden for several days until the police arrested him.
And at another point, he used paint to spray messages on her garden wall. One of the messages said: “I am sorry. I love you. You are my soulmate.”
Mr Farmer said: “He became more and more obsessed with her. She describes significant controlling behaviour by him – and his stalking was such that she couldn’t get away from him.”
Miss Dalton went to Ibiza with some friends, the court was told, but when she came back, he was waiting with flowers.
This led her to try to escape him by moving into a women’s refuge in Seaford but he contacted her, met up with her and followed her back.
On the bank holiday Monday at the end of August last year, Yewman persuaded Miss Dalton to go back with him to her home in Fordingbridge, Hampshire.
Mr Farmer told the jury that she made clear that they were no longer a couple and Yewman had said that he accepted that.
Two days later, though, on Wednesday 30 August, after Miss Dalton reiterated that their relationship was over, Yewman tried to strangle her in her bedroom.
Miss Dalton passed out. When she came round, she saw Yewman appearing to try to cut his own throat with a knife. She told him to stop.
Mr Farmer said: “She – helpless, vulnerable and scared after the first attack – describes him lifting her on to the bed, placing both his hands around her neck and trying with all his might to squeeze the life out of her.”
He was interrupted by Miss Dalton’s daughter Juliette, 21, banging on the door. She called the police.
They arrested Yewman – and Miss Dalton was taken to hospital because she was struggling to breathe. The inside of her neck was swollen and she was severely traumatised, the jury was told.
Mr Farmer said that Yewman told detectives that he was acting in self-defence because Miss Dalton had attacked him.
The trial continues.
