A MAN who punched his partner to the ground before stamping on her head three times has walked free from court.

Michael Pugh was told that the time he had spent on remand following the violent assault was the only reason an immediate prison sentence was not imposed.

The 44-year-old attacked his now-former partner in her Ingleby Barwick home in the early hours of the morning when an argument over a mobile phone descended into violence.

Teesside Crown Court heard how Pugh dragged the woman around her home before pushing her down the stairs after accusing her of hiding his phone on November 23, 2020.

Paul Newcombe, prosecuting, said: “He punched her once, to the right side of her face and she fell; he stamped on her three times and she lost consciousness briefly. When she came to, she was bleeding from her face and her lip.

“She again tried to leave and screamed for help through the open door, she managed to free herself from the defendant, ran to a neighbour and called the police.”

He told the court that the incident last for around two hours and the defendant drove off in her car when realised that the police had been called.

The victim suffered a facial fracture to her eye socket, bruising to her body, and permanent scarring to her right cheek and eye.

In a victim impact statement, she said she has suffered ‘nightmares and flashbacks’ and she has received counselling.

Pugh, of Elvington Close, Billingham, pleaded guilty to causing grievous bodily harm and taking a car without the owner’s consent on the second day his trial but before the jury was sworn in.

He also pleaded guilty to two charges of assaulting an emergency worker when he lashed when officers were called to another domestic incident.

Mr Newcombe said the incident happened in Billingham on October 31, 2021, at 10.50pm, after a teenage boy called the police as his mother was arguing with the defendant and he could hear things being smashed.

He said Pugh had to be Tasered twice to bring him under control after he resisted arrest and lashed out at them while screaming and shouting at them.

Andrew Stranex, in mitigation, said his client had been unable to work around the world in his ‘highly-paid’ job while the case has been ongoing.

He said the relationship was not ‘straightforward’ and there was video footage of the complainant cutting up his client’s clothing.

Judge Paul Watson QC, the Recorder of Middlesbrough, imposed a 13-month custodial sentence, suspended for two years.

“This incident involving an attack on your former partner was cowardly and appalling,” he said. “It all started out of some minor argument over a mobile telephone and ended up with her on the floor and you stamping her head.

“Mercifully the injuries were not as bad, as I have seen, in cases of such attacks, nevertheless they were bad enough.”

Pugh was also ordered to attend 35 rehabilitation activity requirement days, perform 200 hours of unpaid work and was made subject of an indefinite restraining order.

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