A couple have appeared in court accused of assaulting a Swindon corner shop owner after one allegedly stole a pack of cigarettes.

Martin Mongan and Kathleen O’Reilly, of Stanbridge Road, Great Billington, are said to have attacked the two owners of Old Town Food and Wine.

At Swindon Magistrates' Court on April 24, prosecutor Mr Cooper told how Mongan, 42, entered the shop at 19 High Street on March 20 and put the cigarettes into his pocket ‘through force of habit’.

He then explained how Mongan realised the purse was in the car and went out to get it.

Although Mongan says he had the intention to return, the shopkeeper became nervous that he would not.

The shopkeeper then began to argue with Mongan, at which point O’Reilly, 42, got out of the car.

Both the defendants and the claimants say the other was the aggressor.

The Bedfordshire couple now stand trial for assault by beating, with Mongan also facing the charge of theft from a shop.

Both pleaded not guilty to all charges and are due to appear in Swindon Magistrates' Court on August 2.

They were granted conditional bail, with the one condition being to not go to High Street where the Old Town Food and Wine is located.