A MAN who locked his former girlfriend in her house as they squabbled over a phone charger has escaped a jail term.

But Kervon Fleming, who also punched the woman and dragged her back when she tried to get out of a window, has been warned any more and he faces custody.

The 20-year-old, originally from the West Indies, had been in a relationship with Shawni Lyons before the incident last summer. Tessa Hingston, prosecuting, said he had been there overnight but they started to argue as he was leaving.

“There was a dispute about a phone charger which belonged to him and she wanted,” she said. As he held on to the charger, Miss Lyons grabbed his keys and refused to return them, and as the argument escalated, Fleming locked two doors to prevent her leaving.

Miss Hingston said: “There came a point where Miss Lyons tried to climb out of a ground floor window. The defendant pulled her back in. He has always accepted he punched her in the face, but he said he did that as she was hitting him with the heel of her shoe.”

Fleming, of Booth House, Spring Gardens, admitted false imprisonment. A charge of assault was dropped as he said he was acting in self defence. Mark Ashley, defending, said: “This was a ridiculous dispute over a phone charger. He took his charger, she wanted his charger. She took his keys, when she refused to give the keys back he locked the door.”

Recorder Jeremy Wright imposed a one year community order with 12 months’ supervision and 70 hours’ community service.