A MAN who put his hands round his ex-girlfriend’s neck and gave her a black eye in the street wants to run a York pub, the city’s magistrates court heard.

Michael Antony Gilbank, 46, had been out for the evening with his new partner before he encountered his former partner outside his then address in Arran Place after midnight, said Antony Farrell, prosecuting.

“He grabbed her by her hair, threw her to the ground, punched her in the face and put his hands round her throat,” said Mr Farrell. Gilbank did not strangle the woman.

“It was a prolonged assault. He went away and came back.”

Defence solicitor Kevin Blount said the ex-partner had gone to the address on April 23 to collect photos on behalf of their grown-up children and had been waiting in her car for Gilbank.

When Gilbank arrived with his new partner, she confronted him and he had lost his temper.

He accepted he should have behaved better in the circumstances.

“It was impulsive and short-lived, it occurs on his doorstep,” said Mr Blount. “This is not a case of someone going looking for trouble.”

District judge Adrian Lower said the ex-partner had been to the house earlier the same day and Gilbank had refused to let her in.

“Her turning up and just hanging around late at night wasn’t a complete surprise to him," he said.

Mr Blount said Gilbank was hoping to run a Sam Smith pub in York with his new partner.

Speaking about the owner of Sam Smith brewery, the judge said: “He takes a fairly dim view of employing people who have fallen foul of the law.”

Mr Blount said the new partner would hold the licence and Gilbank would be an employee.

Gilbank, now of Beech Grove, Upper Poppleton, initially denied causing actual bodily harm to his ex-partner but changed his plea on the day of his trial as she waited at court to give evidence against him.

He was given a 20-week prison sentence suspended for 12 months on condition he does 25 days’ rehabilitative activities and 200 hours’ unpaid work. The judge said the rehabilitative activities could include tackling Gilbank’s drinking levels.

Gilbank was also made subject to a five-year restraining order banning him from contacting his ex-partner or going to any road where he believed her to be living and ordered to pay a £154 statutory surcharge and £300 prosecution costs.

Both he and his ex-partner accept their relationship is over. 

Mr Farrell said the ex-partner suffered a black eye, scratches and bruises and had received treatment at hospital.

She was present in court as Gilbank was sentenced.

In a personal statement, she said she had stayed away from work after the assault for two weeks because she didn’t want her colleagues to see the black and she had also avoided her family. Normally she saw her parents, both of who had health problems, two or three times a week.