“IT was a silly relapse,” said a man jailed for assaulting his mother after ‘begging’ her for money.

Michael Gardener, 34, was sentenced at Oxford Crown Court on Thursday (May 23) for one count each of harassment with violence, theft and assault by beating.

During the sentencing, it was heard that Gardener had hit his mother in the face with his GPS tag after ‘pestering’ her for money.

READ MORE: BREAKING: Convicted man jailed for life after murder of Oxford man

She had refused and went to call the police when the assault happened.

Sentencing him to 12 months imprisonment, Judge Ian Pringle said: “When [your mother] confronted you, you lashed out and caused that cut to your own mother’s eyebrow.

“That is behaviour that is wholly unacceptable which I think you know.”

Throughout the sentencing, it was heard that Gardener had recently been released from a custodial prison sentence when he returned to live with his mother.

She reported that at first he was ‘quite helpful around the house’ and was ‘pleasant.

However, she states that he then began ‘pestering’ her for money. She had lent him about £800 of which he had also paid back £300.

READ MORE: Scales of Justice: The latest cases from Oxford Magistrates' Court

On May 14 this year, Gardener called his mother asking to be picked up from the Tesco car park in Marcham Road, Abingdon.

As she was driving, Gardener was calling her and ‘begging’ her for more money.

When she arrived at the carpark, he continued asking and she raised her mobile phone to call the police.

However, Gardener swiped it out of her hand and struck her in the face with his GPS monitoring tag. The theft count came as Gardener stole her phone after the incident.

The court heard that the defendant is ‘heavily convicted’ and was also in breach of an eight-month prison sentence, suspended for 24 months, at the time of the offence.

Defending himself in court, Gardener said: “I’m very sorry for what happened, it was silliness. I

“’ve still got my job if you give me a chance and I’m very sorry that’s all I’ve got to say really. It was a silly relapse that’s all it was.

“I was getting pestered for the money from who I owed it to. It was silliness.”

READ MORE: Rapist ice skater released from prison after eight years

When asked by Judge Pringle if he had an alcohol or drug problem, Gardener replied: “It was a little bit of both really but I’ve sort of controlled it now.”

Gardener, formerly of The Lees in Faringdon, was handed a 12-month prison sentence as well as a five-year restraining order.

He will serve half his sentence before being released on licence.