A Bristol businessman who is confined to a wheelchair punched a woman in the face to "calm her down", a court heard.

Martin Longman, 56, who runs van hire company Ventura Logistics in Fishponds, attacked his friend Sally Ann Bowden at his home.

Bristol Magistrates' Court heard that on the morning of May 20 Miss Bowden caught a taxi from Cherry Gardens, in Bitton, to Longman's home in Fishponds Road.

She found him drunk, and after they had an argument he punched her in the face several times, hitting her in the eye.

The attack left her with two black eyes – photos of which were shown to the court – and very frightened and distressed.

When the police arrived, she told them he had punched her several times and that she was scared to leave his house.

But Longman told officers that she had poked herself in the eye, that she was "messed up and suicidal" and had tried to hurt herself, so he punched her in the other eye to calm her down.

In a later police interview, Longman denied he said this.

Magistrates did not believe him and found him guilty in his absence on November 5.

His defence argued that he was in poor health, that he suffered declining eyesight, mobility problems, had liver damage and suffered alcohol dependency syndrome, so he would not be able to carry out community work.

But magistrates decided his crime was serious enough to warrant imprisonment.

Longman was given a 12-week sentence for the assault, suspended for 12 months, and was ordered to live at home for 12 months.

He was also ordered to pay £750 court costs and £250 compensation to Miss Bowden, to be deducted from his disability benefits.