Last updated at 12:37, Thursday, 09 August 2012

AN early morning argument resulted in a man assaulting his girlfriend in a supermarket car park.

STEPHEN LEE VICEROY

A Barrow Tesco worker saw Stephen Lee Viceroy repeatedly pushing his partner against a trolley bay before taking her shopping bag off her and throwing it on top of a storage area, Furness Magistrates’ Court heard yesterday.

Mrs Lisa Hine, prosecuting, said the employee, who witnessed the incident as she was leaving work, also saw Viceroy grab Kirsty Turner’s hair and drag her head towards the ground.

Viceroy, 34, of Hartington Street, Barrow, denied this, despite pleading guilty to assault.

Another staff member who witnessed the incident while on her break, Mrs Hine said, described how Viceroy was shouting while his girlfriend cried, and he was holding his partner by the shoulders while she struggled to get away from him.

The witness also saw Viceroy grab Miss Turner round the neck and drag her round the trolley bay, saying all he wanted to do was take her home.

The incident happened in the early hours of the morning of July 19.

Miss Turner, who is still in a relationship with Viceroy, did not want to make a complaint against him, and his conviction was made on his statement and those of the Tesco staff.

In police interview, Viceroy said he and Miss Turner had been on a night out and he wanted to go home.

She was more drunk than he was, and wanted to stay out. They had started to walk to Tesco to get some food and had started arguing on the way.

Viceroy had been scared Miss Turner would go missing and stay out all night like she had on a previous occasion, and he admitted shouting at her and pushing her to try to get her to go home.

Mr Mike Graham, defending, said: “He accepts totally that he had no right to do that. He shouldn’t have done that.

“This is an isolated incident and they have addressed their differences since the event.”

Viceroy was fined £85 and ordered to pay £85 court costs plus a £15 victim surcharge.

First published at 16:15, Wednesday, 08 August 2012
Published by http://www.nwemail.co.uk