A 21-YEAR-OLD could be jailed for assaulting his girlfriend in their Cirencester home while allegedly in possession of a knife.

Simon Godfrey was due to stand trial at Gloucester Crown Court on charges of assaulting Sasha Hester and making threats to kill.

But he pleaded guilty at the last minute to the assault on May 1 and his plea was accepted by prosecutor Oliver Willmott, who did not proceed with a second charge of making threats to kill.

Godfrey, formerly of St Michael's Avenue in Yeovil, was bailed for a pre-sentence report after Judge William Hart heard he committed the offence while already subject to an earlier court order.

Mr Willmott said the assault consisted of Godfrey pushing his girlfriend when she tried to prevent him leaving their home in Cirencester.

"He used his hands, pushing her out of the way,” he told the court today. “In doing so his hands came into contact with her neck."

Judge Hart said: "One wonders why threats to kill was ever charged in this case in the first place because it could have been dealt with in the magistrates’ court months ago."

The judge told Godfrey to return to court for sentence on December 19 and warned him that immediate imprisonment was a possibility.

"A knife was involved so custody must be in the mind of any judge who sentences you," he said.

The judge imposed a restraining order preventing Godfrey from contacting Ms Hester or her grandmother Sylvia.