North Shields Man Spared Jail After Assaulting Girlfriend on New Year's Day

A man named Paul Dillon, aged 39, from Barnstable Road, North Shields, has pleaded guilty to assaulting his girlfriend, Sarah Lyle, at her home located on Nater Street, Whitley Bay, on New Year's Day. The incident involved Dillon sitting astride Ms. Lyle and repeatedly punching her in the face and body during a drunken altercation. When officers arrived, they found Dillon sitting on her and engaged in the assault. Dillon's defense solicitor claimed that Ms. Lyle had come at him with a table lamp in a fit of temper and tried to hit him, and he reacted in self-defense to try and stop her. The court sentenced Dillon to a 12-month conditional discharge and ordered him to pay Ms. Lyle £150 in compensation. Despite the violence, Dillon was spared jail time.