A MAN has avoided a prison sentence after pleading guilty to assaulting a woman.

Stephen Davison (40), of Errington Place, Prudhoe appeared at South Northumberland Magistrates’ Court on Friday.

He was sentenced to 23 weeks imprisonment, which was suspended for 12 months, after admitting the assault at an earlier hearing, in December.

The charge related to an incident at a property at Castle Lea, Prudhoe on October 22.

The court heard Davison punched his victim four times in the head and then other parts of her body before threatening her with a knife.

The woman then ran upstairs and barricaded herself in a bedroom after the attack.

Defending, Lewis Pearson, said: “Stephen suffers from a psychiatric disorder aggravated by his use of drugs.

“On this day, he has no memory of the attack.”

The court also imposed a three-year restraining order.

He was ordered to complete rehabilitation and must pay a £115 victim surcharge, £100 costs and £100 compensation.