Part-time DJ threw partner down the stairs - then told her mother "she did deserve it", court told

James Burton told his victim's mother in a series of phone calls and text messages: "She did deserve it . . . I only hit her a couple of times.

The 27-year-old said: "Unless she retracts the statement, I'm going to jail . . . I've not beaten her up that bad . . . She doesn't need an x-ray.

"I pushed her down the stairs and knocked her out, but I made sure I brought her around, didn't I . . ? I'm not getting took for a mug."

Burton, of Belvedere Road, Darlington, later denied causing his ex-girlfriend's injuries, but admitted slapping her face twice during a row.

His estranged partner wrote two letters to the police and Teesside Crown Court to retract her original allegation, and say Burton was a good dad.

She disputed prosecution claims that their five-year relationship had been troubled, and said the block-paver and part-time DJ had never been violent.

Burton admitted damaging property, common assault and intimidation, and was given a two-year community order, and ordered to pay £600 court costs.

Judge Howard Crowson told him: "Usually, I am dealing with cases involving men where there is a proven history and it's an ongoing problem.

"Usually, there is no alternative but to offer the protection of a prison sentence. When there is intimidation, that ordinarily cries out for prison.

"The letters I have read make it clear that this was an event that happened was a culmination of circumstances where you over-reacted badly.

"She now considers that you did not behave in a normal way for you, and she was anxious you resume your relationship with your son and don't go to custody.

"That's where you'll go if this happens again . . . you obviously don't come out of this very well. What was happening that night was very unpleasant."

Ian West, mitigating, said Burton had spent a short time in custody after the September offences and would benefit from a rehabilitation requirement.