A FORMER Kidderminster Harriers footballer has been found guilty of assault by beating after hitting his partner in the face.

Richard Appleby, 30, of Evergreen Way, Stourport, was given a two-year conditional discharge after being convicted at Kidderminster Magistrates Court on Monday.

Appleby had been drinking with friends in Stourport when he returned to the house he shared with his then ex-partner, Miss Amy Short, in the early hours of Saturday, July 23, last year.

He was greeted by one of his neighbours, who expressed concern that her partner had gone missing and Mr Appleby decided to call the police.

Miss Short, who was awoken by the disturbance outside, walked out in her pyjamas and baseball cap to assist Appleby in calling for the police before an argument broke out between the pair.

She was then seen to be hit in the face by Appleby, as witnessed by neighbour, Miss Kathryn Green.

Miss Short said: "I asked him to give me the phone as he had had a few drinks and I thought I could help. I could smell it on his breath and, having been with him for seven years, I could tell when he had been drinking.

"I asked him to give me the phone and told him I'd call the police and took the phone off him.

"That was when Richard went back into the house and told me I had embarrassed him in front of his friends and I followed him in."

She added on the doorstep, Appleby "flicked his fist up" and hit her nose, knocking off her baseball cap, causing some numbness.

She said: "I felt tired the next day and sorry for what I'd done because I had embarrassed him by taking the phone off of him in front of his friends.

"I thought perhaps I should have stayed out of it."

Miss Green, who witnessed the incident from a few metres away, said she saw Miss Short's head go back and her cap fall off her head. She also saw Miss Short hold her face after the incident.

Appleby admitted an argument had broken out but denied hitting Miss Short.

Instead, he claimed his left hand was open as he "flicked" her cap in an upwards motion. In a statement to the police, he said he was "100 per cent sure" he did not catch her and "certainly not to her face".

The couple, who have three children, were separated but still living together at the time of the incident. They have since reunited as a family.

Magistrates, however, decided physical contact had been made and gave Appleby a two-year conditional sentence and ordered him to pay £150 in court costs.