A Saltney man pushed his pregnant partner to the shoulders and stomach.

Mark Colley was said to be drunk at the time.

A court heard allegations that after he received a £11,000 inheritance he spent much of his time drinking in the pub.

The defendant was said to have returned home after he had been drinking, explained prosecutor Matthew Ellis.

The 44-year-old grabbed her by both wrists and then pushed her to the stomach and the shoulders, and pushed her towards a window sill.

Colley, of Laburnum Grove in Saltney, admitted assaulting Vanessa Vacher at their home on March 25.

He was placed on a two year community order with supervision.

District Judge Gwyn Jones, sitting at Flintshire magistrates’ court at Mold, sent him on an integrated domestic violence course ‘to change his attitude, his drinking habits and to teach him to respect his partner’.

He was ordered to pay £145 costs and the judge said that he would not order compensation because it was likely that the couple would be reconciled.

Colley told the judge that he hoped the sentence could help get himself sorted out so that he would not do it again.

“I am not best pleased with myself,” he said.

Flintshire magistrates’ court at Mold heard that, when interviewed, Colley said he did not believe that he had a drink problem but had ‘probably been drinking too much recently’.

Victoria Evans, defending, said he wished to apologise for what had occurred.

“It was not his finest hour,” she said.

She stressed it had been a one-off incident, there were fortunately no injuries and it was hoped they would reconcile when the case was at an end.

The judge agreed not to make a restraining order.

In a victim impact statement, Miss Vacher said he scared her that day and that she had rung the police for help.

She had a scan two days later and everything was ok.

The victim said she still loved him and wanted him back but not while he was still drinking.

The judge told Colley it had been an unpleasant incident and the defendant accepted there were issues to be addressed.