A TERRIFIED woman was forced to escape her abusive ex-partner by running into the street and trying the doors of her neighbours’ homes, a court heard.

Newton Aycliffe Magistrates’ Court was told today (Tuesday, November 25) that 32-year-old Greg White turned on his former partner after drinking at a basketball game.

Prosecutor John Garside said that after insulting her he broke the television in her Newton Aycliffe home.

When she asked him why he had done that, he physically attacked her, pulling her hair out of her scalp and repeatedly punching and kicking her in the face and head.

As she crawled away, he kicked her in the back.

The woman had managed to move their weeks-old son to safety before the attack and she ran out into the garden, shouting at passers-by by to phone the police.

Mr Garside said: “The defendant began to chase her; she ran and tried a few doors on the street and found one open. The lady inside called the police.”

White disappeared before the police arrived and later sent a text message to his victim asking why she caused a problem then blamed him for it.

Mr Garside read from the victim's statement in which she said: “Throughout the assault I was begging him to stop but he seemed to be on something and in a mental rage.”

White, of no fixed abode, admitted the assault in court.

Mitigating, John Clish said White did not have a history of domestic violence and that the assault was “out of character”.

He added that although the victim’s injuries were significant, they were not at the top end of the scale.

Magistrates decided to send White for sentencing at Durham Crown Court on a date to be fixed.

They agreed that if a hostel place could be secured for him, he could be released from custody until sentencing.