A MOTHER was grabbed by the neck after arguing with her partner about who should look after their baby.

December 30 was not the first time Danny Cook had attacked his girlfriend as this assault put him in breach of a community order which he was given for another offence on her a month earlier.

Mark Soper, prosecuting, said the 26-year-old grabbed his partner by the neck, who had thrown Christmas presents around the flat, and was said to push her head against a wall.

"There was an argument about who should look after their child and as a result of that, Mr Cook lost his temper and he went in the kitchen. She went outside the flat in a communal area and was telling him he should leave.

"He said in interview he got up at six in the morning to look after the child and does accept grabbing her by the throat but that was very brief before realising what he was doing."

In mitigation, Katherine Maynereid said although Cook admitted to grabbing his girlfriend by the throat in this offence, he does not accept pushing her against the wall and said she stepped back into the wall, banging her head, when he let go.

Cook, of Dunclent Crescent, Comberton, Kidderminster, pleaded guilty to common assault when he appeared at Kidderminster Magistrates' Court on Thursday, January 22. He appeared in the same court on Thursday, February 19, for sentencing.

Chairman of the magistrates Roger Green extended his current two-year community order by six months and sentenced him to eight weeks in prison, suspended for 12 months. He was also ordered to pay a £80 victim surcharge.

Ms Maynereid added: "He [Cook] knows that he has to show he can do this because otherwise measures will be taken to protect the child so he has a lot to change for."