A man who was accused of carrying out an assault on a woman has agreed to be bound over to keep the peace.

Peter Lavery, 19, was charged with assault causing actual bodily harm on the woman, in an incident said to have taken place on May 21.

Mr Lavery, of Milldale, Seaham, County Durham, denied the allegation and was to have stood trial at Durham Crown Court this week.

But, following deliberations between legal parties for both sides prior to the scheduled trial, the prosecution agreed not to proceed, providing Mr Lavery agreed to be bound over to keep the peace.

Mr Lavery accepted the binding over, which will run for a year, in the sum of £250