The sentencing hearing of a 33-year-old Suffolk man who punched his former partner causing her to fall over and hit her head on the ground has been adjourned for two weeks.

John Morton punched the woman directly in the face, Ipswich Crown Court heard.

She fell over and hit her head on the ground, causing an eye injury which left her suffering headaches.

Simon Gladwell, prosecuting, said on another occasion the victim had been at a friend’s house when she saw Morton standing outside his front door for 30 seconds with a machete before returning inside.

The woman had been petrified and had left her friend’s house by a back gate.

Morton, of Chedburgh Place, Haverhill, pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing to an offence of battery which was committed on May 13 last year, assault causing actual bodily harm on August 4 last year and having a machete in Chedburgh Place, Haverhill, on November 27 last year.

Recorder Richard Kelly adjourned the case for two weeks to allow Morton who has been in custody since November to be legally represented.