Jade Goody’s live-in boyfriend has been jailed for assault two weeks after she was diagnosed with life-threatening cervical cancer.

Jack Tweed asked for a suspended sentence so he could care for Goody during her treatment, but was given 18 months in prison for attacking a 16-year-old boy with a golf club.

Today, Chelmsford Crown Court heard how the 21-year-old, who appeared on last year’s controversial Celebrity Big Brother, planned the December 2006 attack on Daniel Steele with his friend James Mattock.

Tweed, who was living at reality TV star Goody’s Ongar home at the time of the attack, had earlier been abused by local youths and was involved in an altercation with a group of teenagers, including Steele.

The teenager, now 18, was left with bruising to his head, face and chest.

Tweed pleaded not guilty and denied any knowledge of the assault at his trial in July, but at today’s sentencing his lawyer said, in mitigation, that his client had lost his temper after being the victim of "sustained abuse" by local youths.

Andre de Moller said Tweed had attacked Daniel in order to teach the teenager "a lesson".

"His motives were to teach a young person, who had been a ringleader in the group of people, which was constantly outside his house - to teach that young person a lesson," said Mr de Moller.

"Yes, it is taking the law into his own hands. I cannot deny that, and it is wrong to do so."

Tweed, who had previously split up with Goody, recently moved back into her home after she was told, during a stint on India’s Big Brother equivalent Bigg Boss, that she had advanced cervical cancer. He was supporting her through her cancer treatment and caring for her children, his lawyer said.

Mr de Moller said: "It is plain, your honour, that this lady has a long road ahead of pain and distress. She is the mother of two young children."

He asked the judge to suspend any prison sentence because of those "exceptional circumstances".

But the judge, Recorder Mark Lucraft QC, said both Tweed and Mattock would spend nine months in prison before being released on licence.

"It was a frightening scene and a traumatic experience," said the judge.

"You went, it seems to me, with one purpose - to attack and to have a fight."

He added: "Hitting someone about the head with a weapon is an extremely dangerous thing to do."

The judge said both men were equally "culpable" - although he accepted that there had been "some goading and provocation".

Tweed showed no emotion as they were led from the dock.

Editor's choice

• Vote for the Breakthrough Award winner
• David Tennant back as Hamlet after back surgery
• Matt Smith is the new Dr Who