Olympic hopeful guilty of assault

A TEENAGE Paralympics hopeful has pleaded guilty to assaulting his ex-girlfriend in Barking.

Spina bifida sufferer and champion swimmer Thomas Brown, of Hands Walk, Newham, also admitted smashing her car window and mobile phone in a jealous rage.

The 18-year-old appeared at Barking Magistrates Court last Wednesday, charged with one count of assault and two of damaging someone's property.

The court heard that Brown and his girlfriend had been together for two and a half years, but she ended their relationship in February this year, because of his increasingly possessive and controlling behaviour.

Brown did not take the split well. During the following weeks he sent her texts, where he threatened to kill himself and also threatened to smash her new boyfriend's car.

On April 16 the girl agreed to meet Brown, after he threatened to speak to her father about "private matter."

They met in Cranlaigh Gardens, Barking and sat together in her car.

The court heard how Brown kept asking to see her phone and was getting more and more angry when she refused to hand it over. At one point he pushed her out of her seat. She eventually gave him the phone.

A nearby resident spotted the affray and shouted at the girl to get out of the car. The girl then left the vehicle and headed towards the resident.

At that point Brown started crying and smashed his former girlfriend's mobile phone, worth �352, on the street. He then punched the window of her car, breaking the glass and causing �119.50 worth of damage, before walking off.

In mitigation Brown's defence lawyer said her client denies the two had split up when the assault happened. "He says she was cheating on him and that he was very upset at the time. But he appreciates his behaviour was not acceptable."

Sentence was adjourned until June 25, for a probation report to be compiled.

Chairwoman of the Bench, Rosemary Erysthee, told Brown that he should expect a community penalty order.