A MAN has been jailed for dragging around his girlfriend "like a ragdoll" in a fight outside a cashpoint.

Stuart Allen, of Keepers Paddock in Middlemarsh, was found guilty of attacking then girlfriend Susan Jones in what he had described as "a normal tussle" on March 16 this year.

Bournemouth Crown Court was told the incident occurred outside the Co-op at Westbridge Park in Sherborne when Ms Jones tried to take her own cash from Allen's hands.

Prosecutor Tom Evans told Friday's hearing (JUN 9) that Allen would control Ms Jones bank cards but she had tried to grab the cash from him when a fight broke out between them.

It ended shortly after he "dragged her through the car park" like a doll, Mr Evans said.

"There was some partial admissions in interview but he described it as a normal tussle," he added.

The court was told that Allen had previous convictions including threatening to shoot his neighbour during an ongoing land dispute.

Mitigating was Lee Christmas who said Allen is "a simple man" who left school with no qualifications and had worked for his overbearing father until the day he died.

"For a very long period [he] worked with his father," he said. "His father was domineering. He worked at his father's beck and call for years. When he died Mr Allen couldn't cope. The family home had to be sold to pay off debts. He is someone who struggled through all of that."

Mr Christmas also said that Allen had been living rough, camping on the land.

He and Ms Jones had been in a relationship for around two years and, during the altercation, Allen's shirt was ripped.

"She describes him as dragging her by the scarf," Mr Christmas added. "She then went back with him to stay in his van."

Allen was sentenced to six months for assault by beating and two months for breaching his suspended sentence, to run consecutively, and ordered to pay a victim surcharge.

Judge Brian Forster QC said: "You dealt with her in a terrible way whether you admitted it or not and you didn't accept your responsibility. Please think carefully how you behave in the future."