A Hakin man took out his anger on a pair of hair-straighteners and slashed boots he had bought as a Christmas gift, a court has heard.

Andrew Charnley, of Rectory Avenue, represented himself when he appeared before Haverfordwest magistrates on Monday, having previously admitted causing damage to the items

He was found not guilty of assault and damaging an iPhone following a trial held on the same day.

The court heard that Charnley, 38, was angry when he called at his then partner Kirsty Briskham’s Pembroke home at 6.30am on January 2, when he found that she had also been out for the night at her cousin’s house, after saying she was planning to stay in.

There was an argument when Miss Briskham arrived home at around 7am and Charnley took a knife to the boots he had given her for Christmas.

He also broke the £135 hair-straighteners he had bought as a present by bending them.

Miss Briskham told the court that the couple had been in an on/off relationship, and had arranged to have breakfast together on the morning in question.

She added that she found him lying in bed bending her new straighteners, before following her downstairs, getting a knife from the kitchen and slicing her boots with it.

Charnley called her a ‘dirty lying cheat’ as he left the house after being asked to leave.

He said: “I got angry and broke a couple of the Christmas presents I bought her. I thought that they were mine because I bought them. It was childish of me.”

He added that at no time had there been any threats or physical altercation between them.

Magistrates fined Charnley £360 and ordered him to pay £85 court costs and a £36 surcharge.

He was also ordered to pay £135 compensation for the boots and £135 for the straighteners.

The bench also imposed a two year restraining order, prohibiting Charnley from contacting Miss Briskham.