A MAN tripped up his ex-girlfriend during a drinking session after breaking a restraining order to go and see her.

Liam Watts from Tredegar assaulted her after she took pity on him and let him sleep at her house when she found out he was homeless.

The 22-year-old defendant was living in a tent outside a factory in the Rassau area of Ebbw Vale where he had found a job.

Watts had been banned from contacting her after a restraining order was made against him.

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But they met up last month and went out drinking together, Swansea Crown Court was told.

Gareth James, prosecuting, said the woman told police she was “frightened of him” but confessed that she “still loved him”.

Of the assault, he added: “The defendant tripped her over as she was walking along.

“That caused her some distress so she complained to him about that and it was at that point that she grabbed him by the collar of his clothes.

“He then grabbed the back of her hair and she describes him pulling really hard.

“She tried to get him off and he swung around and after that she broke from him.

“That caused her to fall to the floor and she describes having a cut to a right knee which bled a little.”

The couple had an on/off relationship, the court heard.

Watts pleaded guilty to breaching a restraining order and assault by beating.

He was found with cocaine when police officers came to arrest him.

Watts had taken her money to buy the drugs, Mr James said.

The defendant also admitted possession of cocaine.

He has previous convictions for breaching the restraining order.

Rose Glanville, mitigating, described her client as “a vulnerable young man” and was someone who was “significantly in debt”.

The judge, Recorder David Harris, told Watts: “You have got somewhat of a cavalier approach to this restraining order.

“It's clear to me from what I've heard and read that there have been times when the victim has acquiesced in you breaching the restraining order, but this is a restraining order that was imposed by the court.”

Watts, of no fixed abode, was jailed for four months but the sentence was suspended for 12 months.

He must carry out 80 hours of unpaid work and complete a 15-day rehabilitation and activity requirement.

The defendant has to pay a £114 surcharge and the court ordered the forfeiture and destruction of the cocaine.