A ’BULLYING’ businessman has been fined for smashing a window at his ex-girlfriend’s house with a garden chair during a violent argument.

John Scott was locked out of the house in Newton Abbot by owner Sarah Dodd but broke in through the window in an attempt to stop her calling the police.

He was cleared of assaulting her at a trial last month but pleaded guilty to criminal damage half way through the hearing.

Ms Dodd alleged he had given her a bloody nose and forced her to flee into the street, where she was filmed on police bodycam crying and in obvious fear and distress.

The couple had been together for a few months after meeting on the Bumble dating app, on which he had falsely claimed to be a former soldier.

A judge at Exeter Crown Court described him as a domineering bully and made a restraining order banning any further contact with Ms Dodd or going to her home in Beacon Drive, Newton Abbot, for three years.

Scott, also known as Hall, aged 43, of Tolcarne Road, Camborne, admitted criminal damage and was fined £500 with £100 costs by Judge David Evans.

He told him: ’This was not a case of merely impulsive damage. You deliberately smashed the door to stop Ms Dodd calling the police at a time when she was obviously and understandably scared of your volatile demeanour and intimidatory behaviour.

’You were trying to get in because you did not like the fact that she was trying to take back some measure of control. She could be heard on the 999 call being terrified by the manner in which you re-entered the building.

’You caused her serious distress but thankfully it was not long before the police arrived. It seems that when in drink, you resort to bullying behaviour, as you admitted when you told police you poured drink over her to silence her during arguments.’

During the trial, businesswoman Ms Dodd, aged 48, told how she had been assaulted three times, culminating with the incident in April 2021 in which she suffered a bloody nose.

He said the injury happened by accident as he was trying to remove her dog from the bedroom but accepted he had thrown the rattan chair through the window when she locked him out.

He said he was desperate to get back in because he needed his mobile and laptop to run his marketing business.

The jury found him not guilty after it emerged that Ms Dodd had carried on seeing him after the incident and had written two letters to the police asking them to drop the case.

Mr Lee Bremridge, defending, said Scott’s businesses had been badly affected by Covid and he would need time to pay any fine.

He said Scott had been found not guilty of the more serious allegations. A probation report said Scott regrets his actions and has taken steps to reduce the amount he drinks.