A MAN who assaulted a woman in a hotel in Westlea has been told to pay hundreds of pounds in fines and costs.

Robert O’Shaughnessy pleaded guilty to one charge of assault and one charge of assault by beating when he appeared at Swindon Magistrates Court.

His victim decided not to press charges or give a statement but the Crown Prosecution Service took the case on after seeing CCTV of two incidents at the Campanile Hotel Swindon in June.

Prosecutor Keith Ballinger described what happened that night.He said: “They arrived outside the hotel in a taxi at 11.45pm on June 17 and he appeared to be in an agitated state.

“He argued with her and gestured towards her but they entered the hotel holding hands.

“They went up to their room and it appears he that he pushed her to the floor in the corridor and pulled her into the room.”

Initially, both charges were for assault by beating but the first was changed to remove ‘by beating’ after CCTV footage showed O’Shaughnessy jabbing his finger at her instead, with no actual contact being made.

The 31-year-old from Oxford Street in Newbury has three previous convictions for assaults, which all occurred during a pub brawl in 2015.

His defence solicitor Timothy Morgan said: “He’s very animated in the CCTV footage but there was nothing pre-meditated, he failed to control his temper.

“He struggles to control his emotions and it’s even harder to do so once he’s been drinking

“The police said that his victim was not distressed and had no physical injuries.

“She told him she would not tolerate being spoken to or treated like this again.”

A representative from the probation team said: “He said she wanted to go out and keep drinking and he did not, they left the room and she ended up on the floor. He’s currently on a community order with an unpaid work requirement which was breached in October 2016.

“He had a lot of personal problems at that time and he said his head was all over the place but he’s doing really well now.”

Chairman Amanda Lee gave him a £150 fine and ordered O’Shaughnessy to pay costs of £85 and another £85 for victims’ services.

She also gave him a 12-month community order with 25 sessions in the Resolve program to address anger management and alcohol issues.

Miss Lee said: “What happened is not acceptable and will not be tolerated.”

O’Shaughnessy replied: “I’ll never do it again.”