A financial consultant who punched his former girlfriend three times in the head has been given a conditional discharge.

Colchester magistrates were yesterday told how Steven Harrison, 37, formerly of Colchester, had fallen more than £7,000 into debt when he had an argument with his girlfriend on November 5, last year.

Harrison, of Cats Lane, Sudbury, admitted common assault and was told to pay a £50 fine.

Dinah Walters, prosecuting, said: "The relationship had finished in the middle of last year. Mr Harrison went to her house and he was under the influence of alcohol. There was an argument and then there was a struggle in the bedroom."

Harrison punched her three times, she added.

The court heard how Harrison, who works as a financial planning consultant, had suffered a bad spell and had gone way over the overdraft allowed him by his firm.

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