A 54-year-old man who assaulted his partner after a row over a marriage proposal has been jailed for four months.

Derek Michael Christopher Bird, care of the prison, argued with the woman after he said he had decided not to propose as previously planned.

He initially pleaded not guilty to a charge of common assault on a woman but on Thursday changed his plea to guilty.

A second charge of provoking behaviour was dismissed after the Crown offered no evidence in light of the guilty plea.

The court heard that Bird was already in prison after being recalled for breach of an early release licence.

Prosecuting advocate James Robinson told the court that, on July 29, Bird’s partner had finished a detox programme and went with him to buy a bottle of champagne.

They went to an address in Ballafurt Road in Port Erin where Bird opened the bottle.

This was said to have upset the woman who said she thought they were going to drink it on the beach, but Bird replied that he wanted to ’get on it’.

She was then said to have poured champagne over him.

She said that Bird had then grabbed her by the throat and pushed her onto the sofa.

His victim wriggled free and then poured more champagne on him before going to the bathroom.

The woman said that Bird had then kicked in the door and pinned her against the wall by her throat.

She said he then threw the box containing a ring at her and she then threw it out of the window, which resulted in him dragging her outside to look for it.

Police arrived and Bird was said to be slurring his words and clearly drunk.

When interviewed at police headquarters he said that all the allegations were untrue but admitted they had fallen out over the ring.

Bird said that he had only hugged the woman in the bathroom and that she had assaulted him.

He claimed that he was only five out 10 when asked how drunk he was and said he could clearly remember things.

Defence advocate Stephen Wood entered a basis of plea in which Bird accepted he had pushed the woman onto the sofa but denying that he kicked the bathroom door.

He also said that he had put his hand on her chest rather than her throat because he was trying to get a bottle of aftershave out of her hand.

Mr Wood said that his client had been on remand for some time.

’Unfortunately this was not a union made in heaven,’ said the advocate. ’Both the complainant and the defendant have had historical alcohol issues.

’Mr Bird was clearly in love at the time and had intended to propose. The celebration was in anticipation of the couple’s engagement but he chose not to go ahead and didn’t get down on one knee as perhaps the complainant had hoped.

’It caused a rift and Mr Bird clearly over-reacted.’

Mr Wood went on to say that his client had now been recalled to prison and it was not known when the parole board would consider him for release again.