A VIOLENT thug who launched an “unforgivable” attack just two days after being released from prison has been sent back to jail.

Southampton Magistrates’ Court heard how Keiran Thomas Claffey, 24, was released from HMP Guys Marsh on September 3 and put in ex-offender’s accommodation.

On September 5 Claffey left the halfway house and went to a flat in Northam.

When a woman – who Claffey had previously been in a relationship with – opened the door, Claffey put his hands around her neck, forced her face down on the bed and accusing her of sleeping with other men.

Prosecuting, Graham Heath told the court how Claffey dug his thumbs into the woman’s eyelid and hit her head against the wall when she tried to escape.

Police were called to the incident by Southampton probation services, who asked officers to check on the welfare of the victim.

Speaking in court, Claffey’s defence solicitor Chris Knight pleaded with the judge not to send his client to jail and said “all he wants is a clean start.”

In February 2017 Claffey had been sentenced to two years in prison for possession of a CS spray.

In 2013 he was also sentenced to 21 months in jail when he appeared before Southampton Crown Court and admitted stabbing another man in the leg.

At court on December 31 Claffey pleaded not guilty to ABH, not guilty to criminal damage, and guilty to possession of cannabis.

He was found guilty of all three charges.

District Judge Anthony Callaway said the assault was “unforgivable” and sentenced Claffey to a five month consecutive sentence - with no separate penalty for possession of drugs or for criminal damage.