AN ISLE of Wight man who jumped off a cliff through suffering the anguish of his son being adopted, survived to face magistrates over his attack on the boy's mother.

The man admitted an assault by beating last year and failing to attend court earlier this year to face the domestic violence charge.

He initially denied the assault, but changed it to a guilty plea in June, the day of his trial, at the Isle of Wight Magistrates' Court.

The violence against his ex-partner took place over a 36 to 48 hour period.

"Police received a call from the victim stating her ex-partner had assaulted her, but she later denied any assault had taken place," said Liz Miller, prosecuting, at the Isle of Wight Magistrates' Court.

The man returned to her flat that same evening and the row continued, with neighbours again contacting the police, reporting the woman screamed: "Get off me. Get off me. Why are you doing this to me?"

The neighbours also reported concerns for a small child at the address, amid the ruckus, Miss Miller added.

Police returned to the victim's flat and she answered the door wearing large sunglasses to conceal facial injuries and holding a child.

She initially denied the suspect was in the property and stated she did not know where he was. She tried to convince the police a random male came to her flat the previous night, assaulted her and left.

Eventually, she called her ex-partner over, but when he was told he would be arrested, he made off, shutting the door behind him — but officers kicked it open and arrested him.

It later emerged he told his ex-partner to lie to the police.

Although he had no previous convictions for assaults, he had an offending history of 31 convictions for 99 offences, with other police call-outs for domestic issues.

His solicitor, Oscar Vincent, said: "The offences occurred in the context of both having high stress levels, linked to adoption proceedings taking place at the time, affecting their son.

"He became aware children's services were involved because of her apparent inadequate parenting skills and knew, should the child be removed into care, he would be put up for adoption, not to be seen again.

"There was a build-up of frustration on his part because, through no choice of his own, he had been excluded from the child's upbringing by her.

"He became exasperated by circumstances beyond his control, which manifested itself in his offending behaviour.

"Sadly for him, the child has since been adopted. This caused him a huge amount of upset and grief — to the point where he made a serious attempt at self harm.

"He threw himself off a cliff, which resulted in multiple fractures. He has recovered physically, but it is debatable whether or not he has recovered psychologically.

"So appalled was he by his behaviour towards the complainant, he started a domestic violence course."

Magistrates ordered him to pay a fine, a victim surcharge and costs and made him subject to a 12-month restraining order.