A 21-YEAR-OLD man who shoved his girlfriend against a city centre bridge after getting “upset” because she danced with another man has been fined £600.

Tommy Stapleton, of Ivy Close, Harwell, Didcot, was also ordered to pay £450 costs after admitting assaulting the woman by beating her in Park End Street, Oxford, at about 1.28am on January 10.

Sentencing at Oxford Crown Court on Thursday, Judge Peter Ross said it was an “ugly and unpleasant” attack but would spare him jail.

He added: “It should wake you up, young man. I see no purpose in sending you to prison. The period in custody would be, in my view, deeply destructive.”

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Prosecutor Timothy Boswell said Stapleton and his girlfriend were out in Oxford city centre when she danced with another man, which “upset” Stapleton.

Mr Boswell said the pair argued and he shouted at her in the street near the Lighthouse pub.

He grabbed her arm, swung her around and pushed her backwards towards the nearby bridge.

The assault was spotted by passers-by and police officers, who raced across the road and intervened.

Stapleton was in breach of a suspended sentence handed to him in May 2014 for causing serious injury by dangerous driving.

Defence barrister Trudi Yateman said the pair did not have an “abusive relationship” and were set to rekindle their romance following the end of the court case.

She said the incident was “alcohol-fuelled” but Stapleton had “not touched a drop” since getting arrested.

Stapleton will also have to pay a victim surcharge and was made subject to a curfew.