A 27-year-old Forest of Dean man who assaulted his girlfriend, and then hacked into her Facebook account to make it look like she was lying to the police was jailed for 18 months yesterday..
Prosecutor, Caighli Taylor, told Judge Ian Lawrie QC at Gloucester Crown Court the messages were "clearly designed to undermine" her account of the assault.
Ms Taylor said the messages included words such as "sorry I lied".
Butler deleted them from the woman's account so she would not see them, but left them on his.
He then showed them to his defence solicitors who presented them as evidence to the Crown Prosecution Service.
The woman was asked about the messages by the police, and denied she had sent them.
Judge Lawrie praised the "extraordinarily persistent police investigation" which showed that it was Butler himself who had sent the messages from Lydney Library.
As well as the assault Butler pleaded guilty to perverting the course of justice between April 11 and July 19 this year.
The court heard that Butler had eight previous convictions for 11 offences.
During the assault on the woman, he pushed her to the bed in her own home, placed his hands around her throat and told her "I will kill you", Ms Taylor said.
“She has been left feeling vulnerable physically and mentally,” the barrister continued. “She does not feel comfortable living in her own home.
“She has been trying to move from this address. She feels exonerated now he has pleaded guilty.
“She felt her life had been on hold.”
Jason Coulter, representing Butler, said his client witnessed domestic abuse as a child'.
“The abused can turn into an abuser,” Mr Coulter said. “There was an upbringing of violence.
“He had to earn money from his teens by bare knuckle fighting. His adult life has been dominated by violence.
“He looks back on the last 10 years of his life with some degree of disappointment.
“He has no contact with his family, and has had no visits since his last three weeks [on remand in prison].
“Until now he has never had his own place. He has lived in cars, woods, barns and on sofas.
“There has been a real sea change in this man.
“He is fit, strong and able bodied. Able to work.
“I ask in this sorry and sad circumstances to recognise his failings.”
The barrister asked the judge not to impose a sentence that would make Butler "lose hope he has built up".
Judge Lawrie QC said Butler's use of the woman's Facebook account was a "carefully contrived deceit".
Imposing an 18-month jail term for all offences, the judge told Butler: “It was clear it was not a happy relationship. You were less than an agreeable partner.
“There was coercive bullying from you. On occasions that translated into physical force.
“You grabbed her causing bruising. You put your hands around her throat.
“The blame is often put on the victim in domestic violence situations.
“I accept you have problems in your past, but that does not inhibit you one bit.
“It is a serious offence and you compound it by trying to manipulate information, breaching her privacy.
“There is no alternative to custody.
“Use the time in custody to learn some lessons, control yourself, and bring some order to your life,” the judge concluded.