A jealous man attacked his girlfriend with a hammer after he accused her of being unfaithful, a court heard yesterday.

George Robinson, 24, started an argument at the couple's home and, when his girlfriend picked up the hammer, he wrestled it from her and struck her on the head and body, said Christine Egerton, prosecuting.

The 21-year-old girl, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was left with cuts and bruises - and a mark of the hammer's head on one of her knees, Teesside Crown Court heard.

Miss Egerton said: "She said it all stemmed from his jealousy and suspicions that she had been unfaithful."

Robinson, who had been remanded since July to Holme House Prison, Stockton, was recently attacked and was moved to a secure wing.

Robinson, of West View Road, Hartlepool, was given a three-year community rehabilitation order after he pleaded guilty to actual bodily harm assault on November 23, last year.

Robin Denny, mitigating, said: "It was obviously a stormy relationship that was violent on both sides, and the complainant admitted that she picked up the hammer.

"He has learnt a fairly severe lesson."

The Recorder of Middlesbrough, Judge Peter Fox, told Robinson: "It seems to me that domestic violence is a serious matter and you must not get involved in that kind of offending again."