A MAN beat up his partner after she returned to their home to collect her belongings.

Neil Bacciocchi dragged Rebecca Hensey outside onto a driveway and yanked out clumps of her hair, Worcester Crown Court heard.

He also spat in her face, punched her in the head and caused ear, eye, calf and back injuries, said Paul Whitfield, prosecuting.

He told police he got a call she was at their house in Granby Close, Winyates. He went there, they argued and violence then erupted.

Miss Hensey, the mother of their young daughter, had gone to live with her sister on March 17 before she decided to visit their home three days later.

Bacciocchi, a 25-year-old courier, pleaded guilty to assault causing actual bodily harm.

Sentencing him to eight months jail, suspended for two years, Judge Alistair McCreath, said: "Domestic violence is every bit as serious as public violence."

But he accepted that Bacciocchi had a genuine sense of shame and was taking steps to deal with an anger problem through a psychotherapist.

Simon Davis, defending, said he was tormented by his behaviour but had been given coping mechanisms for the future.

He lost his temper because Miss Hensey had got a key to their home behind his back.

Since then he had attended the victim's home with his father to pick up their daughter for contact visits and had apologised to her.