A SILLOTH man who drank four bottles of beer and then argued with this then partner “recklessly” drove over her leg outside their home.

The woman reacted furiously by punching him, but the violence continued in their home as he smashed ornaments and slapped and pushed her, Carlisle Crown Court heard.

Robert Balfry, 37,  admitted two actual bodily harm assaults and causing criminal damage. Prosecutor Brendan Burke said the woman, now Balfry’s ex-partner, had withdrawn her support for the prosecution.

Police became involved just after 10pm on September 6 last year when the defendant called them, alleging that he was the victim of an assault by his partner.

That triggered their investigation of what happened.

The woman later told them how Balfry had returned to their Fell View home in Silloth that afternoon with four bottles of beer and he drank them all.

Not knowing where he was later that night, she called him, and he said he was outside the town’s Co-op.

The woman was on her way to a neighbour’s house to find somebody to mind her children when she saw Balfry driving along the road, laughing as he turned towards her as if pretending to run her over.

“She went to the driver side window and asked where he'd been,” said Mr Burke. “She could smell alcohol on him. She then turned and began walking back to their home and he moved the vehicle forward, hitting the victim on the back legs.

“That pulled a leg underneath the car and pulled it backwards. She screamed at the defendant, saying: ‘You’ve just run over my leg.””

After he reversed the car off her, she punched him, causing a graze above his eye. “He was just laughing and saying he hadn’t touched her,” continued Mr Burke. Inside the house, the row continued, with both parties shouting.

There was “pushing and shoving.”

He smashed a vase and a Lucozade bottle and pushed her and pulled out her hair extensions. It was at this stage he threatened to “get her back,” saying she would end up in a cell. He then called the police.

Soon after this, he left and went to a neighbour’s home.

The defendant's record included three drink driving offences and a drunk and disorderly offence, all indicating a "problem with alcohol," added Mr Burke.

Kim Whittlestone, defending, said Balfry fully acknowledged that he was in the wrong and despite the victim not supporting a prosecution he had admitted the assaults and criminal damage offences.

“The problem for this defendant has been alcohol,” she said. “He’s stepped away from that relationship and he was in custody for two weeks. He is now alcohol free…Things between him and his ex-partner have calmed down considerably.

“He wants the relationship to rekindle.”

Judge Michael Fanning told the defendant: "This is domestic abuse."

The defendant had slapped and pulled the woman, grabbed her face and squeezed it and run her over in his car, though the judge accepted that that latter assault was the result of recklessness and not deliberate.

The judge also noted the references, including one from the victim’s mother. But he told Balfry: “You need to change your behaviour.”

He imposed eight months jail, suspended for two years. The sentence includes 84 days of alcohol abstinence and 10 rehabilitation activity days. The defendant’s address was given as Cross Lane, Wigton.