A MAN who punched and headbutted his estranged partner has walked free from court - with the promise of jail if he does it again.

Benjamin Tordoff was given an eight-month suspended prison sentence and ordered to go on a Building Better Relationships course.

Judge Howard Crowson told him: "I hope by the end of it, you'll have a different attitude. If I'm wrong about that, we'll meet again."

Tordoff, 26, launched the attack after turning up at his ex-girlfriend's Middlesbrough home, Teesside Crown Court heard today (Monday, July 20).

The row was a day after their daughter's birthday party which had "gone well" with them both there, said prosecutor Jenny Haigh.

Tordoff was said to have stormed into the house, shoved the woman onto a sofa, grabbed her by the hair and punched her in the face.

As she tried to escape the beating, Tordoff blocked her way and said: "Look what you've done . . . look what you've made me do."

When a friend arrived and was told to call the police, he yelled: "Any of yous phone the police and I'll batter yous both."

Tordoff, who runs a removals business, fled and was seen by a friend with his head in his hands, crying about what he had done.

His former partner suffered a black eye from the headbut to the nose, but it was not broken, Miss Haigh told Judge Crowson.

Peter Wishlade, mitigating, said Tordoff, of Clough Close, Middlesbrough, needs help for his "very clear deficits in thinking".

A letter from his estranged partner to the judge explained that she was also to blame for the argument and violence on June 1.

Judge Crowson said the "forgiving" note "does her great credit" and told Tordoff: "She appears to have accepted your apology."

He added: "Your remorse does you credit. I have the impression this was a flash of temper after an argument.

"It caused a nasty injury. She has said in a letter to me that she feels, to a degree, to be at fault that day."

Tordoff admitted assault occasioning actual bodily harm. He was also fined £200 after he admitted driving without a licence and without insurance.