A MAN who hit his partner told her: “I don’t want to hurt you, but I have to”.

Stephen Marson, 20, no fixed address, pleaded guilty to two counts of common assault on Shauna Louise Abbot, at an address in Powell Street, Selby, in May.

Selby magistrates heard Marson and Ms Abbot had been in an on-off relationship since 2009, and had a daughter together in February.

On May 2, he had come to her home and asked to put their daughter to bed, and when she allowed him in, Marson followed her around the house asking what she was doing, then jumped on her bed, the court heard.

An argument followed, and Marson threw Ms Abbot’s mobile phone into the garden then pushed her to the ground repeatedly before he left, causing cuts and bruises to her hands, and swelling to her ankle and knee.

The court heard that on the next night Marson phoned and told her he would have to sleep on a park bench because he could not sleep at his friend’s house, so, feeling sorry for him, she agreed to let him sleep on her sofa.

After Marson arrived at 7pm, they argued again, and he left the property then returned to pick up some DVDs. Prosecuting, Jane Chadwick said Ms Abbot “could tell from his face straight away he was in a bad mood”, before he grabbed her by the throat, pushed her against the kitchen wall and told her: “I don’t want to hurt you, but I have to”.

Marson has previous convictions for violence, and was given a 16-week suspended sentence by York Crown Court in February for attacking a 14-year-old boy at Selby fair last year.

He was taken into custody after the latest offences, and will be sentenced at York Crown Court in July.