A MAN who denied assaulting his ex-wife in a public carpark changed his plea before the matter went to trial.

James Milton of Manor Orchard, Cricklade, came before magistrates sitting in Swindon where he entered a guilty plea to the charge of assault against his ex-wife dating from November 2 of last year.

Nick Barr, on behalf of the Crown Prosecution Service, told the court that the assault had come about as a result of the breakdown of the marriage, which had ended in August 2014. Since then there had been a number of arguments between them.

But when matters got out of hand in the car park of the 24-hour Costa off Great Western Way his ex-wife alleged she had been assaulted in a scuffle that saw her pushed.

Defending him, Tony Nowogrdzki told the court that matters had been brewing before they met, as they had exchanged between 30 and 40 emails. “Text messages and emails create more problems between people than they solve and it would have a lot easier if they had spoken together face to face,” he said.

He explained that his 39-year-old client hadn’t realised there had been any physical contact between them, but after watching CCTV footage captured he accepted there had been contact. He then changed his plea and advised his solicitors to arrange for another hearing before the matter went to trial.

“It’s a minor incident, just one of those things, and he has learned from it” said Mr Nowogrodzki who presented the magistrates with a number of good character references in relation to his client.

The magistrates sentenced him to a financial penalty, ordering that he pat a fine of £415, Crown Prosecution Service costs of £215 and £42 victim surcharge. Chairman of the bench Deborah Couzens said: “This matter was aggravated by the fact that there were children present and it was in a public place.”