A MAN has been sentenced to 31 weeks in jail after he assaulted his former partner and breached a non-molestation order she had taken out against him by sending text messages to her mobile phone.
Thomas Skelton (21) of Westborough, Scarborough, pleaded guilty to the two charges at Scarborough Magistrates' Court. It was the third time Skelton had appeared in court in breach of an eight-week suspended jail sentence, which he had been given in A
pril 2008 for common assault.
The court heard Skelton and his partner had been in a relationship for around a year-and-a-half when he assaulted her at the home they shared in Staithes.
Steve Ovenden, prosecuting, said Skelton's partner had moved out of the home with the couple's six-month old daughter after an argument. She returned to the property a few days later on 28 January and the pair immediately began arguing.
She returned to the property to pick up her daughter and mobile phone, but Skelton took her keys off her and refused to let her leave, before dragging her from one room to another by the arm.
Mr Ovenden added: "She kept asking to be let go.
"She eventually escaped through a rear window and such was her fear that she left the baby behind."
Skelton then chased his ex-partner for a short distance. She contacted police and he was arrested and charged, before being released on conditional bail.
On 16 February she was granted a non-molestation order at Scarborough County Court which banned Skelton from directly contacting his former partner.
However, four days later, he borrowed a phone from a mutual friend after he said he needed to contact members of his family and sent her three text messages. She immediately reported him to the police, who arrested him for breaching the non-molestation order as well as the conditions of his bail, which also said he couldn't contact his ex.
Franklyn Garvey, mitigating, accepted his client was facing a jail term, having breached his suspended sentence for the third time.
He added: "He has pleaded guilty to an offence of common assault but my client's version of events differ from the victim's. According to him, he did lock the door but the keys were in the locks of both the front and back doors at all times.
"He says he led her from the hall into the living room by the arm, but it was to calm down their daughter."
Mr Garvey then read out the text messages Skelton had sent to his partner, which he said were "in no way sinister".
He also said that no physical injury had been caused to the complainant, and that "the flame that has been there in the past between the couple may yet be rekindled".
Magistrates ordered Skelton to serve five weeks of the eight-week suspended jail sentence, 18 weeks for the assault and an additional eight weeks for breaching the non-molestation order.
They also imposed a two-year restraining order, which forbids Skelton to contact his ex-partner, except through a third party on matters relating to their daughter.
