A Bowdon man has been jailed after he strangled and suffocated his former partner in a London hotel room.
Antonio Franchitti, 63, was branded a "monster" by his former girlfriend after the attack at the Club Quarters Hotel.
Franchitti, of The Firs in Bowdon, had been a top Latin American and Ballroom dancing coach and a Fellow of the Associated Board of Dance.
But he flew into a rage and attacked his 46-year-old victim after complaining she had not had sex with him.
Chester Crown Court was told he had dragged her so hard along the floor that her face suffered carpet burns, and as she tried to scream for help he put his hand over her mouth.
His victim only managed to escape the couple's hotel room when she agreed to say she had been mugged, and then had to travel back to Cheshire by train with her attacker before raising the alarm with her mother.
Her family called an ambulance when they saw her and she was treated at Wythenshawe Hospital. Her teeth were found to have been chipped and she had sustained swelling, a bite mark inside the mouth, carpet burns, injury to ear and bruising to the face and neck.
In a victim impact statement in court, the victim, from Knutsford, told how she feared she would die.
"I am still struggling to come to terms with why he would do that to me. The monster he became I did not recognise, I was terrified, and I truly believed that I might not survive.
"The physical injuries I suffered were severe and I am still healing, but the emotional trauma is something that cannot be seen and will take far longer to heal.
"I have not been able to do the simplest tasks without the need to sit down. I am always exhausted, and I have this constant feeling of being ill.
"My children have been deeply affected. My eldest daughter, who is 21, and my 18-year-old son have struggled with their emotions, feeling anger and helplessness at not being able to protect me.
"My youngest daughter, just 11 years old, has been left scared and anxious."
The victim ran Altrincham-based dance school Licence to Dance with Franchitti having been a student at his classes.
She was in a relationship with Franchitti for four years but he became "obsessive" when she tried to leave him.
When interviewed by police, Franchitti gave "no comment" to questions, and said the mark on her jaw had been accidentally caused by a curling iron.
Miss Shannon Stewart, prosecuting, told how the attack happened on a New Year's trip to London.
She said: "[The victim] struggled to recall the exact events that took place but says while they had consumed some champagne after going shopping neither were drunk.
"Whilst in their room the defendant threw her down onto the bed so she kicked him. He commented about them not having sex before throwing [the victim] down again which hurt her jaw.
"She believes that he must have hit her and was strangling her. She was screaming but could not breathe but he continued harder.
"She fell out of the bed and was dragged around with her face dragging along the bedroom floor causing bruising, swelling and carpet burns. The defendant then placed his hands around her mouth to stop her from screaming.
"She detailed the strangling was worse whilst on the floor as he did it harder and she felt like she was fighting for her life."
Defence counsel Richard Thomas said: "Mr Franchitti expresses his genuine remorse. He is not just a man who had no previous convictions, he is a man of exemplary character. This is a genuine one-off incident."
Franchitti pleaded guilty to assault occasioning actual bodily harm and charges of intentional strangulation and suffocation.
Sentencing Franchitti to 26 months in prison and issuing him with a ten-year restraining order, Judge Simon Berkson told him: "How is it that someone of 63 commits such terrible offences?
"The incident was prolonged, there was a substantial effect on the victim's ability to carry out her normal everyday activities or ability to work."
Additional reporting: Cavendish Press
