A JUDGE has jailed a man who left his girlfriend with a dislocated shoulder after assaulting her in front of her two young children.

Dean Long pushed his partner, sending her tumbling over the back of a sofa following a row about money.

When he was later arrested, the 26-year-old told the police she had been coming at him and he was acting in self defence.

But Long, who was cautioned for assaulting the same woman last year, was jailed after he admitted the offence.

Philip Warren, prosecuting, told Swindon Crown Court the defendant was in a relationship with Liarna Lowes.

On Tuesday, October 23, last year he went to her flat and they started arguing over money she was supposed to have given to his father.

During the row he started to pull her hair as the couple scuffled and she was so concerned she called her grandmother, who heard some of the fight. Long was overheard saying I need someone to take my anger out on' as they argued and he then ripped the phone out of the wall. The incident ended with him pushing her over the piece of furniture.

As a result of the fall she suffered a dislocation and rupture of the shoulder, which may need reconstructive surgery.

"The police were called and when they arrived she was still on the floor in considerable distress with two young children present," Mr Warren said.

"One was a small child in a buggy crying, the other was slightly older standing nearby.

"Her blouse was ripped and she was in pain and didn't want anyone to touch her."

He said her father was also at the house and had punched the defendant before police arrived.

After he was arrested Long said to officers I've not assaulted anyone, I've just been punched by her dad'.

In interview he told police that Miss Lowes was attacking him and saying horrible nasty things' and he gave her a push and she fell.

He also admitted calling her a freak of nature' and idiot' and a retard' during the incident.

Long, of Pinehurst Road, pleaded guilty to a charge of grievous bodily harm.

The court was told that in June last year he was cautioned for assaulting Miss Lowes after she withdrew her support for a prosecution.

Rob Ross, defending, said there was no suggestion his client had set out to harm Miss Lowes or cause the severe injury.

He said his client had been on anti-depressants and was signed off work following a bereavement in 2006. Long had put great stock in his relationship and the couple had a one-year-old child together.

But jailing him for eight months Judge Charles Wade said: "You were clearly in a jealous and aggressive mood.

"Clearly this sort of behaviour in a domestic environment is disgraceful. She was effectively a vulnerable woman and you committed this offence in the presence of her two young children."