Man jailed for removing ponytail

A man who chopped off his girlfriend's ponytail has been jailed for 12 months for causing her actual bodily harm.

Michael Cresswell - previously known as Michael Smith - from Dudley, performed the unwanted haircut on Michelle Tether on 11 April 2005.

He was originally cleared of the charge in June by magistrates who deemed that, as hair was dead tissue, the offence did not constitute actual bodily harm.

However the ruling was reversed after prosecutors returned the case to court.

Kitchen scissors

Cresswell and Miss Tether were separated after an on-off relationship for five years when she went to his house in Worcester Road.

There he pinned Miss Tether down and used a pair of kitchen scissors to cut off her ponytail.

Dudley magistrates ruled that there was no case to answer, but two High Court judges decided that people regarded their hair as their "crowning glory" and removing it without an individual's consent amounted to bodily harm.

Cresswell pleaded guilty in February and was sentenced on Thursday at Wolverhampton Crown Court.