POLICE found Mark Skuse hiding under a bush after he smashed a window at his pregnant ex-partner's house.

Skuse, 29, went to his former partner's home in Melksham in the early hours of November 27 after he had been drinking, but she was not there.

Michelle Hewitt, prosecuting, said Skuse used a wooden rounders bat he found lying around to smash the window.

She said: "The defendant was arrested nearby, hiding under a bush in a next door garden."

Andrew Eddy, defending, said Skuse had lived with his ex-partner at the house until they split up in September over a dispute surrounding her pregnancy, and that the offence was "out of character for him".

He said: "The split was fairly acrimonious. He was really quite drunk that night. I don't think it was his intention to break a window, he was just trying to attract attention.

"I think Mr Skuse was genuinely sorry for causing the problems he has done."

Skuse, of Southbrook Road, Melksham, was ordered to pay £150 compensation to West Wiltshire Housing Society for the window.

Skuse, who admitted a charge of criminal damage when he appeared at Chippenham magistrates' court, was also given a 12-month conditional discharge and ordered to pay £43 costs.