Ex-Big Brother star Jade Goody is "devastated" after learning that boyfriend Jack Tweed has received a jail sentence for battering a youth.

Tweed and his pal James Mattock, 29, were found guilty in July of battering 16-year-old Daniel Steele with golf clubs. The sentence was delivered Monday.

He and Jade split earlier this year but he has been constantly at her side since she was diagnosed with cancer. Goody wrote to Queen's Counsel Recorder Lucraft begging him not to lock up on-off love Tweed, 21, so he could help her fight cervical cancer.

But the convicted Tweed got 18 months - and hours later Jade tearfully went with eldest son Bobby, five, to comfort Tweed's mum Mary.

His barrister Andre de Moller told the court that the attack happened after Tweed reached breaking point when he and Jade suffered "sustained abuse" at their old home in Chipping Ongar, Essex.

Recorder Lucraft said the offence warranted custody. The judge rejected Goody's mercy plea to spare him a prison sentence, leaving Jade, 27, to battle the killer disease without him at her side, according to The Sun.

The weeping TV star told a pal: "This couldn't have come at a worse time. I'm in bits. I'm devastated. Jack is my rock."