A MAN overreacted when his partner insisted on going on a night out with friends instead of a planned trip to Blackpool.

Alan Jackson, 26, was under the impression that he and his now ex-partner were to go with another couple to the Lancashire coastal resort, on August 23.

Durham Crown Court heard that when the woman told him she was going with friends for a night in the city a heated dispute developed.

Shaun Dryden, prosecuting, said the woman planned to drive from their home in Sherburn Road, Durham, to meet friends in a car park outside the Co-op store in Sherburn Village.

In a bid to prevent her leaving he let down the tyres on her car and then, when a neighbour agreed to drop her off, he followed in his car.

He said: “When she got out of the neighbour’s car he got out of his and ran across the car park before punching her once to the left hand side of the face.”

Mr Dryden said Jackson left the scene and his then partner was left heavily bruised round the eye, with brief hearing impairment from a ruptured ear drum.

She was taken to hospital for treatment, and later that evening her mother spoke to Jackson outside his home, when he made threats to kill her daughter.

As a result police were called and Jackson was arrested.

He made admissions over his actions, although he initially claimed he only “slapped” his ex-partner.

Jackson, of Goodyear Crescent, Sherburn Road Estate, admitted assault causing actual bodily harm and making threats to kill.

Alex Burns, for Jackson, said: “There was an arrangement in place for he and her to go to Blackpool with other people.

“As she said she was going out for the night with friends he, perhaps, over-reacted, but he tells me that when he went to that car park he went to reason with her and he went to hug her.

“But she wasn’t happy with that and that’s when he resorted to violence.

“He desperately regrets it as well as his later comments to her mother, which he did not mean to act on.”

As Jackson has spent the last four weeks in custody, his first taste of life behind bars, Recorder Jeremy Hill-Barker imposed a 15-month prison sentence, suspended for two years, during which Jackson will be subject to probation supervision.

Recorder Hill-Barker also said Jackson must attend a building relationships programme to address his offending.