A FATHER of four, described as a good dad, has been sent on a course run by the probation service to learn about respectful relationships.

Jamie Robert Challoner, 30, of Powys Close in Queensferry, admitted criminal damage at the Shotton home of his partner Amy Ashbrook by throwing a child’s scooter at a window when he was demanding to be let in on January 14.

He also admitted a public order offence and being in breach of a previous conditional discharge.

Challoner, said to stay at the house occasionally, was placed on an 18 week prison sentence suspended for a year.

He was ordered to carry out rehabilitation and was sent on a programme of 35 sessions to address his issues and understand respectful relationships.

District judge Gwyn Jones, sitting at Flintshire Magistrates Court at Mold, placed him on an 18 month tagged curfew between 6pm and 7am and he was ordered to pay £85 costs and a £115 surcharge.

Prosecutor Rhian Jackson said Miss Ashbrook, 27, the mother of his four children, described him as a good dad and while he lived elsewhere he was sometimes allowed to stay.

In January he had been asleep on the sofa but went to wake her up and told her to clean up his dog’s urine in the kitchen.

That, the judge said, was “absolute cheek”.

Later he was having a go at her that she would not cook for him, said Mrs Jackson.

She was doing university work on her laptop and asked him to leave.

The complainant later told him she was phoning the police, hoping he would leave.

He later went to the shop, but when she returned she had locked the door, and he was shouting to be let in.

It was alleged that he used a hammer, which he denied, to strike and door and then used it to smash the living room window. He pleaded guilty on the basis that he had used a child’s scooter.

When told that she had now called the police, he put his face to the window and said “You don’t think they are going to help you, watch what will happen when they are not here.”

He was originally charged with using violence to secure entry but that was dropped when he admitted a public order offence and criminal damage after the complainant failed to turn up to give evidence against him.

Probation officer Rachel Woodcock said she found an interview with the defendant challenging. He did not feel he wanted help from the probation service and would raise his voice when discussing matters.

Solicitor Simon Simmons, defending, said the couple had been together for 12 years, they had four children and his partner regarded him as a good dad.

He had always denied using a hammer.

The relationship wold resume, that was the reality of the situation, he explained.

Judge Jones said immediate custody was more than justified but he would draw back with a view to seeing if his attitudes could be changed.

Whatever disputes parents had with each other, a responsible father should not be breaking a window using a child’s scooter when there were children present, he said.