Magistrates agreed to remove bail conditions so that a couple could go on holiday  after a passionate plea from the victim of an assault.

John Christopher Harrison pleaded guilty at Hyndburn magistrates to assaulting his fiancee as they returned home from a night out.

But in a letter to the court the victim pleaded for bail conditions preventing him from having any contact with her to be removed.

She said Harrison was not just her fiance but her best friend.

She said: “I love him and he is not a bad man and we need to be together to sort this mess out.”

Emma Morrissey, defending, said the couple were due to go on a family holiday which had been booked before the town centre incident which had been captured on CCTV.

Miss Morrissey added: “I accept it is not normal to remove bail conditions in cases of domestic violence but these are exceptional circumstances.”

Harrison, 40, of Spring Hall, Clayton-le-Moors, was remanded on unconditional bail for the preparation of a pre-sentence report.