A CONVICTED rapist has been sent back to prison after a “sustained” assault on his partner and breaching a sex offenders register notification requirement.

Sean Patrick Daly, 47, of no fixed address, pleaded guilty to the assault in January 2016, where he poked his partner of 11 years in the eye following a heated argument, before punching her in the side of the head.

He also absconded for 18 months after failing to turn up at magistrates' court following the assault, and had been living in Southport before he was arrested in Shipley last month.

Under the terms of being on the Sex Offenders Register, Daly has to notify police of a change of address within three days of moving.

Bradford Crown Court was told that Daly and his partner had both been drinking when they were arguing at their home in Mexborough Road, Bolton, Bradford, while their three children slept upstairs.

He had been shouting at her, calling her a “bad mother”, before telling her to get him some more tobacco and poking her in her right eye, leaving it bloodshot, and punching her in the side of the head.

The woman’s brother - who lived next door - called police at 5am as the shouting got progressively worse.

Daly was arrested in April 2016 and told to attend Bradford and Keighley Magistrates' Court in May 2016, but failed to appear.

Police visited his address to find he had not lived there for 12 days, and he was eventually arrested in July 2017.

Daly, who has 15 previous convictions, including a three-and-a-half year prison sentence for rape and 13 months for wounding, was given a four month sentence for the assault and a 14-month sentence for breaching the Sex Offenders Register terms, to be served consecutively.

Judge Jonathan Durham Hall said the assault was a “nasty domestic abuse incident”.

He added: “This was a sustained, angry and abusive confrontation.

“You sensibly pleaded guilty to the charges then went walkabout with your dog for 18 months, which was a long and deliberate failure to comply with the notification requirements for the rape.

“Do not go walkabout again, it would be quite unsatisfactory.”