‘Royally drunk’ Mansfield man smashed door into ex-partner’s head on ‘ill-advised visit’

Alexander Fleet appeared at her address at midnight on October 21 last year and "tried to get her to believe he was a changed person," said prosecutor Donna Fawcett.

A verbal argument ensued and when she tried to close the door he punched it so hard it hit her and banged her head against the wall.

"I thought he had smashed the glass," she said in a statement, adding she sustained pain to the side of her face and arm but there was no bruising.

The court heard their five-year relationship ended because he cheated on her and kept drugs at their address.

Fleet wouldn't stop attending her address even though she didn't want to see him, said Ms Fawcett, and a non-molestation order, prohibiting him from pestering, threatening or contacting her, was made in April 2023.

The court heard he received a six-month conditional discharge for assaulting a bouncer in 2016.

Graham Heathcote, mitigating, said “it was an ill-advised visit” and Fleet "temporarily lost his temper and took out his frustration on an inanimate object”.

“This is not the culmination of several previous episodes of violence,” he said. “It was a one-off.

"Earlier that day he attended his grandfather's funeral and consumed a massive amount of alcohol to bury his grief.

"He is not a drinker but was royally drunk. As this court will be aware, alcohol is frequently the mother and father of bad decision-making and so it was for Mr Fleet on this day.”

Mr Heathcote said Fleet deserved full credit for his early guilty plea and has made no attempts to make contact with her since.

He has recently become a father with his new partner and has started a new job as a ground worker.

Fleet, aged 29, of Pickard Street, Mansfield, admitted assault and breaching a non-molestation order, when he appeared at Nottingham Magistrates Court, on February 22.

Sentencing was adjourned until Wednesday when he received a 12-week prison sentence, suspended for one year, with ten rehabilitation sessions. A restraining order was imposed for two years. He must pay £150 compensation.