A YOUNG mother was so in love with the man who had once beaten her up that she was prepared to forgive and forget, a court was told.

Terri Turner, aged 26, alleged that there had been a second attack by Paul Cave but when he rejected her advances, she went to the police two days later.

She told Worcester Crown Court that she had since tried in vain to rekindle their romance through text messages and had regretted making a complaint.

Cave, 39, of Threshfield Drive, Warndon Villages, Worcester, was cleared after a two-day trial of assault causing actual bodily harm.

He denied he had followed Miss Turner into her new home in Grenville Road, Dines Green, Worcester, on July 22 last year and attacked her.

Prosecutor Charles Hardy said the couple had been in a relationship since 2006 and had one child. But this was interrupted in 2007 when Cave was jailed for assaulting her.

She was waiting for him when he came out of prison but confessed that she had had another romance while he was in custody. He became angry when the other man’s name was mentioned.

Giving video evidence, Miss Turner claimed that she was punched in the face and hit with a wallpaper scraper in a confrontation at her home.

She initially lied to her mother that the injuries were caused by a woman who had attacked her in a park.

When Cave was arrested on August 6, he denied that he had assaulted her and claimed she had been pestering him.

He said had been “stitched up” because she was jealous of his other girlfriend and their children and that she had been following him round town.

Mr Hardy quoted the expression that “love is blind” and that Miss Turner had been prepared to forgive and forget, despite previous difficulties in the relationship.

But Paul Mytton, defending, said that Miss Turner had behaved inconsistently and even lied to her mother at one stage. He said: “Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned”.

The allegation was false and the complainant wanted pay back, he said.

After the verdict, Judge John Cavell explained to the jury that Cave was still in custody because he had been recalled on licence for his previous sentence because of the allegation.