A 23-YEAR-OLD man who asked his partner to look after his money so he wouldn’t spend it on drugs attacked her when she refused to hand it over.

Blackburn magistrates heard Thomas Collins Harris had drunk most of a bottle of vodka when he decided he wanted drugs and started demanding money.

Harris, 23, of Romney Walk, Blackburn, pleaded guilty to assaulting Emma Riley and taking her car without consent, aggravated by damage to the walls of a house.

He was sentenced to 120 days in prison suspended for 12 months, made subject to community supervision for 12 months, banned from driving for 18 months and ordered to pay £100 compensation and £165 costs.

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Catherine Allan, prosecuting, said police called to a report of a domestic incident found Miss Riley sitting on the front step of her home. She described how Harris had assaulted her, dragging her around the room by the hair and grabbing her throat.

“She thought he was going to kill her,” said Miss Allan.

Miss Allan said Harris ran off with the keys to Miss Riley’s car. Later that morning he got out of the car while it was still moving and it collided with a house in Silverdale Close.

Jonathan Taylor, defending, said since the incident Harris had enrolled on a course run by the Wish centre, known for helping women who are subjected to domestic violence. “He accepts what he has done was wrong and he has done something to try and ensure there is no repeat,” said Mr Taylor.