A MAN headbutted and punched his former partner and trapped her in a dark cellar during a drunken assault, a court heard.

Stephen Parkinson, 28, of Southfield Avenue, Odsal, “smashed” his way into Sonia Briggs’ house via the back door in the early hours of March 8 last year, Bradford Crown Court was told.

The court heard that Miss Briggs woke to find Parkinson stood at the bottom of her bed. There was an argument and, when she got out of bed, Parkinson “repeatedly headbutted” her, the court was told.

As Briggs tried to get away, the court heard, a door was slammed onto her hand. Parkinson then demanded a beer from the cellar and, when the pair were down there, damaged the electrics and caused the lights to go off.

The court was told that Parkinson then closed the cellar door, leaving Miss Briggs trapped in the dark.

Judge Robert Bartfield said: “It must have been terrifying for her.”

He added: “She lost teeth during the assault.”

Parkinson, who already had two convictions for assault against Miss Briggs, was jailed for 18 months for assault occasioning actual bodily harm, false imprisonment, criminal damage and breach of bail from when he failed to turn up for his trial. He was also ordered to pay a £100 victim surcharge at yesterday’s sentencing hearing.

Parkinson’s trial had gone ahead in his absence at an earlier date.