A mother strangled by her jealous and delusional partner - who secretly filmed her - told how her life has been devastated.

Alan Brough's victim suffers memory loss and shattered confidence after he throttled her breathless, wrongly believing she was cheating.

The 66-year-old from Walmer businessman was cleared of attempted murder but convicted on the lesser charge of causing grievous bodily harm with intent.

"I do not feel I am the same person as I was before. If I had to place myself on a scale of happiness I would say I am -10 now," she said shortly after the attack.

"I even dress differently. Alan wrongly thought I was having an affair just by the way I dressed. I now wear baggy clothes which is so different from what my style of dress was. I don’t want to be noticed.

"I no longer eat properly - I have little appetite and feel sick all the time.

She added: "I don’t sleep properly and I wake in the early hours and then hit with a horrible feeling."

In a bid to catch her cheating, Brough set up a spy camera in their bedroom and paid a private eye to follow her, a jury was told at a previous hearing.

Today, Brough's victim told Canterbury Crown Court how her life is damaged more than two years after the attack.

"I still feel very insecure and emotional. I find it hard to go out and am starting to feel isolated and depressed.

"The confidence I felt before has gone."

"Alan wrongly thought I was having an affair just by the way I dressed..."

The mother-of-two explained how she sold her home and belongings to move into Brough's Halliday Drive home in Walmer, where he would later place his hands to her throat.

"Two years ago I had a lovely life. I had a wonderful flat and had been on my own for sixteen years," she said.

"When I met Alan he was so totally convincing that I find it hard to understand how it has come to this, that my life is now so different. I still feel very insecure and emotional.

"I find it hard to go out and am starting to feel isolated and depressed.

"I still feel anxious and sick all the time. I worry about money and paying the rent even though I work.

"I don't feel like I am the same person I was, he has taken my confidence and happiness."

Following his arrest Brough, a father-of-three, was transferred to a secure hospital and diagnosed with delusional disorder.

Psychiatrist Shahid Majid told the court the condition manifested as "morbid jealousy" - essentially the wrong belief that women cheat on him.

Dr Majid told Judge James O'Mahoney elements of Brough's condition had since improved, however, he still holds "the same conviction of delusions."

But the doctor argued placing Brough in a hospital setting for up to a year, rather than directly in prison, could help determine whether the delusions can be treated.

Prosecutor Eloise Marshall QC urged the court to consider Brough's potential to harm others in the future.

She argued the mental condition alone does not explain the violence and highlighted the need for punishment.

Mitigating, David Osborne said Brough, of previous good character, had never before been violent and was well-respected in his community.

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He argued his client would benefit from psychiatric treatment before a prison term, to help reduce his risk to the public.

"He led a successful life, has raised children, ran businesses, and was a respectable member of the community for years," he said.

Brough made an emergency call to police at 10.20pm, telling the operator he thought he had killed his partner in May 2017.

“He went on to say that he thought she had been having an affair and that he had flipped and got her round the neck.

“At the time he was making the call, the woman was struggling to breathe and Brough could be heard begging her to breathe and to stay alive.

“He can be heard saying: ‘Come on...come on breathe,’ “ explained Ms Marshall QC.

She added although Brough told the operator he thought she was having an affair, “that wasn’t the case at all”.

Judge O'Mahoney, who told Brough to expect a prison term, is expected to carry out sentencing on Friday July 12.

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