A VIOLENT Malvern man who ignored a court punishment so he could go on holiday has been locked up.

Raymond Speers admitted removing an electronic tag to sun himself Spain and also stealing his ex-partner's Land Rover Freelander following the breakdown of their two-year relationship.

At Worcester Magistrates the 43-year-old admitted stealing the vehicle in May from his then ex-girlfriend, Karren McMurray - who he has since got back together with, after she kicked him out of her flat at the Morgan pub in Worcester Road, Malvern.

The Land Rover was later found in a Worcester car park after police using automatic number plate recognition technology spotted it.

He failed to attend the police station on September 12 because he was in Spain after removing the tag, attached to him as a condition of a 7pm to 7am curfew handed down for assault.

Chris Hilton, defending, said: "He was aware that he had to return to Worcester police station and realised he could not evade the jurisdiction of the court. He realised he needed to face up to his responsibilities."

Speers notified police he was going to be in Birmingham International Airport where he was arrested on September 26.

He was ordered to serve the original six-month prison sentence, suspended for 12 months, following the assault in which he split open a man's nose, blacked his eye, and left him with other injuries after grabbing him by the throat and punching him repeatedly in the face.