A FATHER attacked his expartner in front of their children on Christmas Day after breaking into her home.

Timothy Frost, 36, of North Avenue, Southend forced entry into the woman’s house while she was making Christmas dinner and repeatedly kicked her.

Basildon Crown Court heard he was harassing the mother after the relationship broke down.

He was handed a community order at the court during the hearing.

Prosecuting Neil King said: “There was harassment relating to his ex-partner he had children with and the most serious offences were over Christmas.

“On Christmas Eve one of the children saw the defendant outside the home and he had keyed her car. Then on Christmas Day while she was cooking Christmas dinner he called her 47 times and he then banged on the door and forced his way in.

“Then he assaulted her and kicked her to the floor and she suffered injuries and bruising in front of the children.

“On December 27 he was back banging on the door ordering her to open it and swearing at her and he damaged the door and leave buckled so it could not be shut.”

Mitigating Joseph Carr told the court Frost is remorseful and acted out of character.

He said: “The pair are in a better place now and he appreciates how unpleasant it was and he wants to move on.

“He doesn’t ordinarily conduct himself like this and was denied time with his family for Christmas and it escalated.”

Sentencing, Judge Shane Collery said Frost risked hurting those he loved by his behaviour.

He said: “This is a precise example of how not to be during Christmas with your ex-partner and your children. This time of year may mean less to adults but we are dealing with children here.

“This was an appalling thing to do, what on earth were you going to achieve by doing this.

You cannot treat people like this and you have got to think about the affect on those you love.”

He was ordered to complete 100 hours unpaid work, a better building relationships course and rehabilitation activity requirement days. He was also handed a restraining order to not contact the victim, told to pay costs of £1,200 and £1,000 in compensation to the woman.