A WOMAN was left with cuts and bruises on her face after her partner punched her in the nose.

Images presented before South Cumbria showed the woman with cuts across the middle of her face after she was assaulted by Barrow man Robert Joseph Saxton following an argument between the pair.

Saxton, 40, admitted that he assaulted Deina Jamieson by beating her when he appeared before magistrates.

The court heard the couple had plans to get back together following the court hearing.

John Troup, prosecuting, described the incident, which took place on September 29.

He said: "Mr Saxton went to Deina Jamieson's address. They were watching films together and were drinking alcohol.

"It seemed they started arguing. The complainant and the defendant do not know the exact topic of the argument but part of it was about her being unemployed.

"She punched the defendant in the left forearm on four occasions.

"At 5.30am the defendant punched her to the face - that made contact with her nose.

"There was a significant quantity of blood coming from her nose."

The defendant was then taken away by the police.

Mr Troup said the victim did not want a restraining order to be imposed because 'she wishes to work on her relationship with the defendant'.

In mitigation, Liz Phizacklea told the court: "The defendant has pleaded guilty today.

"You will note he is a man of good character.

"This incident occurred when both the defendant and victim were very drunk.

"The defendant works in retail and had been working throughout lockdown without a break. The incident occurred in the first week he had been off sinch March.

"He and the victim were drinking heavily in order to relax."

She said the pair had drunk a number of bottles of beer as well as one and half bottles of vodka between them on the night.

Miss Phizacklea added: "He fully accepts his actions and has shown remorse when I have spoken to him today.

"He has never hit a woman in his life before this and feels awful about the incident."

The couple were said to have been in a relationship for 'four or five years'.

Saxton, of James Street, was sentenced to 150 hours unpaid work including a rehabilitation programme.

He was also told to pay a victim surcharge of £95 and £85 court costs.