A FATHER has promised a judge he will not be back to court again after blaming a tempestuous relationship for his regular court appearances.

Jamie Pepper was fined £25 after he admitted breaching one of the three community orders he has received in the past two years.

Chelmsford Crown Court heard a restraining order was issued in 2013 banning Pepper from contact with his then partner who he had assaulted.

The restraining order was ignored, however, and the couple had a baby together. The court heard in May 2015, Pepper, 25, of Drury Road, Colchester, was convicted of common assault against a three-week-old baby, who was thrown on a bed, and the breach of the restraining order.

He was given a two year community order with several requirements, most of which he fulfilled, other than not committing more crimes.

Then in September 2016, Pepper received a community order for assaulting a police constable, a separate matter.

On January 3 this year, he went to his former partner’s house and found his belongings on the doorstep.

He then climbed over the fence at the home in Berechurch Road, Colchester, and smashed a pane of glass in the back door.

Pepper admitted one count of criminal damage at Colchester Magistrates’ Court on February 23 this year.

The court accepted the criminal damage was reckless rather than deliberate.

Pepper appeared at Chelmsford Crown Court on Friday due to the breach of the first two orders from May 2015. Judge Patricia Lynch fined him to mark the breach and accepted he had already been sentenced for the other offences.

She said: “It is time you grow up a bit.

“It is all well and good having this fiery and tempestuous relationship but it's about time you grow up.”

The court heard the couple are no longer together.

Pepper promised he would not be back in court before offering to pay the fine directly to the judge, which she declined.