A THUG who beat up his girlfriend set fire to a toilet roll in a police station setting off the fire alarm, a court heard.

Marc Gibson was attending Scholey Street police station on March 11 to answer bail for the assault, which happened on December 7 last year.

When the fire alarm sounded at the station, officers found Gibson locked in the disabled toilet, and banged on the door before finding burn marks on the wall and floor inside.

Bolton Crown Court heard that Gibson had decided to use a lighter to set fire to some toilet roll in an attempt to dry his clothes.

The court heard that Gibson had been given a cigarette by a friend on the way to the station, and that he now questions the contents of the cigarette, claiming that it influenced his actions. The court was told that the assault on his partner happened after they had a conversation about Gibson’s five-year-old son.

Gibson had been in a relationship with the woman for about 10 months, and the court heard that Gibson claimed she had problems with his son staying at the house because she is not the mother of the child.

Gibson then started shouting at her, and launched a “prolonged and sustained” assault, leaving her bruised on her face and body and needing hospital attention for a suspected damaged eye socket.

He hit her in the mouth, bit her nose, used a small table to hit her in the legs, and grabbed her hair and hit her head against the wall three times.

Gibson, aged 34, of Kirkhope Walk, Halliwell, pleaded guilty to one count of assault and another of criminal damage at an earlier hearing.

He was sentenced to 18 months in prison following a sentencing hearing on Friday, and must also pay a surcharge of £100.

Judge Timothy Stead said: “This assault is a nasty case.

"Not surprisingly, she was terrified.

“She was frightened at the time that you would kill her, such was the nature of the attack.

“While answering bail at Bolton police station you caused damage by fire in the disabled toilet.

"This case, it seems, is a matter of vandalism.

“Whatever you were trying to do in there, ordinary decent people do not set fire to toilet roll in police stations.”