A FATHER scalded his girlfriend by pouring water from a kettle over her after he had punched her several times in the head, a court heard.

But David Kay, who carried out the attack on his partner in front of their four-month-old son, was spared jail.

The 38-year-old pulled a telephone out of the wall during the ordeal inflicted on Lyndsey Ainscough to stop her calling the police.

Bolton Crown Court heard that Kay was cutting the fingernails of son Logan at Ms Ainscough's home in Westhoughton on October 26 last year.

One of the baby's fingers started to bleed after Kay had cut the nail too close to the skin.

Ms Ainscough then "had a go at him" about this, which prompted Kay to push her onto a settee and punch her several times in the back of the head.

She also suffered bruising on her body but managed to break free and tried to call the police, only for Kay to unplug the phone.

Ms Ainscough then went to the kitchen to boil a kettle to use with baby Logan's bottle.

A short while later, Kay entered the front room with the kettle and poured its contents over her head, causing her to scream in pain.

The court heard that Kay pleaded with her not to call the police but she did so, with paramedics treating her for two to four per cent burns.

The kettle had "not long been boiled" but was not scalding hot, the court heard, with Ms Ainscough's skin not blistered.

Judge Elliot Knopf did not impose an immediate custodial sentence on Kay, of Poplar Avenue, Horwich, because Ms Ainscough's injuries were not more serious and he took into account his early guilty plea.

Kay had initially denied the offences to police in interview, saying he had "pushed" Ms Ainscough after she had pushed him, before going to the shops with his baby.

David Toal, defending, said Kay had been suffering ill health and had been providing money and items for Logan through his own parents since the incident.

Ms Ainscough did not request that a restraining order be imposed on Kay.

Judge Knopf said: "This was a gross and tremendous over-reaction to your partner having it seems from your point of view the audacity of criticising you when you were cutting the nails of your four-month-old child.

"That prompted you to react in a totally unacceptable way."

Kay has 25 previous convictions relating to 45 offences, the most recent of which was for the producing cannabis in November 2013.

He was given an eight month prison term, suspended for a year.