A CRAZED ex-boyfriend from Oldbury who assaulted his former partner after committing a New Year's Eve robbery has been jailed for 22 months.

Delroy Hammond, aged 44, stole a computer used by a disc jockey and his partner during celebrations at a West Bromwich public house, said Mr Howard Searle prosecuting.

He said Alexander Williams and Kim Hogan had finished their duties for the evening and they were waiting for a taxi when they got involved in an argument with Hammond.

Mr Searle told Wolverhampton Crown Court they had pre-booked their taxi but Hammond maintained it was his and he knocked over Miss Hogan.

She fell to the ground along with Mr Williams and it was then that Hammond of Wallace Close quickly snatched the computer and ran from the scene.

But he was arrested just moments later hiding in a doorway and after being charged he was bailed but he failed to turn up for his court appearance, said Mr Searle.

It was while he was at large that Hammond encountered Janet Dillon, his former partner, just weeks after they ended their three year "on and off" relationship.

She was on her way to work and after Hammond accused her of cheating on him with another man he dragged her before striking her in the face.

Judge John Warner told Hammond the robbery was a "very unpleasant" incident while it was a serious attack on his former partner because she had been in a vulnerable position.

Hammond admitted robbery, assault causing actual bodily harm, common assault on Miss Logan and also damaging a mobile telephone.

Miss Sally Cairns defending said Hammond had been drinking during the day and all New Year's Eve and he felt the taxi belonged to him.

The robbery of the computer by the father of three, she stressed, was not premeditated - it was an "unplanned opportunistic" offence.