A MAN who assaulted and stole from his pregnant ex-girlfriend has been spared prison.

Ryan Hughes, of City Road in Chester but formerly of Wrexham, appeared at Wrexham Magistrates Court on Tuesday morning.

The 30-year-old was to be sentenced for three offences he'd previously admitted - those being criminal damage, theft and assault committed against his ex-partner Natalie Campbell at her home in Ellesmere Port on April 11.

He also admitted that he failed to surrender to the custody of Wrexham Magistrates on September 5, and that he had failed to comply with the terms of a community order.

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Rhian Jackson, prosecuting, told the court that Ms Campbell was in a relationship with the defendant for one year, which she ended a month prior to the three incidents involving her.

Following the breakup however, they remained "civil" as they had an unborn child on the way.

On April 10, Hughes stayed at Ms Campbell's address in order to join her at a scan the next day - but on the morning of the appointment Hughes became "angry" with her and started smashing up her property in the kitchen.

He kicked a hole in his bedroom door and then took £10 in cash which she had needed to get to her scan.

When she told him this, he replied "tough f****** s***," and threw a set of keys which hit her in the forehead.

Ms Jackson said the failure to attend court offences had been his original date of sentence - but he hadn't attended due to working on a project in the Cotswolds.

Probation officer Andrew Connah told the court the defendant's breached community order had included 300 hours of unpaid work - but he hadn't done it.

He invited District Judge Gwyn Jones to revoke the order and re-sentence Hughes for the two counts of disqualified driving it had initially been imposed for.

Alun Williams, defending, told the District Judge: "He's a roofer and he's not currently working.

"The reason he missed the last hearing was that he was taken down to the Cotswolds in a van and they didn't get him back for the hearing.

"He works out of a company in Oswestry but now has accommodation in Chester, so can't get there to work at the moment."

Mr Williams told the court that at the time of the offences, his client was "effectively homeless" and said while Hughes' community order had been breached, his engagement with services had improved.

"He has shown he's not very good at doing unpaid work," he added.

"And I concede that the custody threshold has been crossed - but I ask that the punitive element be a suspended sentence."

District Judge Jones told Hughes: "It grates me that you're not going to your unpaid work whereas you can happily work to get money in the Cotswolds and not turn up at court.

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"However I have to look at the matter without any degree of annoyance; that's not part of my duties.

"I am going to give you the opportunity to work with the probation team."

Hughes received an overall sentence of 26 weeks custody, suspended for two years.

He must undertake 35 days of rehabilitation activity and pay costs of £85, as well as a £154 victim surcharge.

No compensation or restraining order were imposed as, the court heard, the victim did not wish for them.