A THUG threw a mirror at his girlfriend leaving her bleeding after a row sparked by the coronavirus lockdown.

Lee Waddy had been rowing with his then partner after both had been drinking at a barbecue in June.

She left the home they were living in to allow Waddy to calm down and when she did return, he was much more relaxed.

But tempers flared again shortly after.

At one stage Waddy punched her to the face and then manhandled her against a wall.

He later threw a mirror at her which glanced off her head leaving her gushing with blood.

The wound needed to be glued by medics.

The 35-year-old admitted assault by beating and actual bodily harm.

The Crown Prosecution Service accepted the victim had also been aggressive and at one stage attacked Waddy with scissors and bit him on the arm.

Chelmsford Crown Court heard Waddy, of Turn Star Square, Colchester, had previous convictions for domestic violence, but had turned his life around since being addicted to drugs and abusing alcohol earlier in his life.

Donal Lawler, mitigating, said the row had been partly caused by the Covid-19 restrictions.

“He is not in any way looking to minimise what he has done and takes responsibility for his own actions,” he said.

“This was a toxic combination of circumstances,

“People dealt with the lockdown in different ways and both of them began relying on alcohol.”

Waddy has been in custody since June, but was given a seven-month sentence, suspended for two years, by Judge David Turner QC.

He must complete the building better relationships programme, 40 rehabilitation days and 100 hours of unpaid work.

Judge Turner said Waddy had “grotesquely overreacted”, but spared him more jail time to allow him to rehabilitate.

“You were bullying and aggressive,” he said.

“It was ugly and inappropriate violence and a completely unnecessary episode.

“You say the lockdown contributed to this, but we have all been impacted by it in some way or another.

“But this entire thing should never have happened.”