A thug who punched his partner so hard that she lost a tooth has been jailed for 15 weeks.

Andrew Basey got in a drunken row with the mother of his child when she wanted to go to bed and he wanted her to continuing boozing with her.

The 30-year-old attacked the woman in the early hours of June 15 this year, Teesside Crown Court heard.

Jess Butterell, prosecuting, said the couple had known each other since their school days but had only been in a relationship for around a year when the assault happened.

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She said: “He grabbed her arm and she tried to get away from him. He continued to hold her arm and tightened his grip, so she bit him to get free from him.

“She went to the other side of her bedroom and he punched her to the jaw and knocked a tooth out.

“She was angry at that and punched him back.”

The victim said she didn’t want Basey to be imprisoned and wanted him to receive help with his mental health.

Basey, of Wynyard Mews, Hartlepool, pleaded guilty to battery when he appeared in court.

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Peter Sabiston, mitigating, urged the judge to let his client continue on the community order that he is currently serving for a previous offence as Betterell will have served the equivalent sentence for assault while on remand.

He said: “Their relationship has ended and she doesn’t want him to see their child but that is being worked out at the minute through a different route.”

Judge Howard Crowson said this attack was a ‘prolonged’ incident and was carried out at a time when the defendant was already subject to the community order.

The judge sentenced him to 15 weeks in custody and allowed the order to continue once he is released from prison.