A 21-YEAR-OLD faces an almost 'inevitable' prison sentence for breaking his girlfriend's nose in a vicious attack.

Jack Knapman, of Thurlow Road, Torquay, punched the woman repeatedly while she was holding a two-year-old child, Exeter Crown Court was told.

Knapman pleaded guilty to one count of assault occasioning actual bodily harm, which took place on May 9.

Prosecutor Howard Philips gave a brief summary of events.

He said Knapman punched the victim three or four times in the face and pushed her against a wall before again repeatedly punching her.

The victim suffered a broken nose and lost a tooth.

Adjourning the case for a pre- sentence report Judge Graham Cottle said it was almost inevitable that Knapman would be sent to prison at the next hearing considering the serious nature of the crime.

The defendant will be sentenced on October 1.

A NEWTON Abbot man has denied possessing more than a dozen counterfeit £20 notes.

Matthew Stevens, 29, appeared at Exeter Crown Court on Friday charged with two counts involving the false notes.

He denied delivering one counterfeit note to another, and a second charge of possessing or controlling 17 counterfeit notes.

Stevens, of Clifford Drive, is alleged to have committed the offences on January 15.

Judge Graham Cottle adjourned the case for seven days.

A YOUNG woman suffered a cut to her head after falling out of a taxi in Torquay in the early hours of yesterday.

The casualty, aged 18, took a tumble from the vehicle in Ellacombe Church Road at 1.30am.

She refused treatment after paramedics attended the scene.

There were initial fears that the woman, who has not been named, was the victim of a hit and run accident.

POLICE have appealed for witnesses after a car was stolen from Westbrook Avenue, Teignmouth, and later found abandoned after apparently colliding with a wall.

A grey Ford Fiesta with the registration K974 SCN was taken sometime between 5pm on Wednesday, August 18 and 10am the following day, when it was found in Osbourne Road car park, Newton Abbot, after it appeared that it had collided with a wall.

Three men were seen running from the vehicle. They are described as wearing dark clothing, and were in their twenties.

Police are appealing for anyone with information about the three men or the theft to contact them on 08452 777 444 quoting reference JG/ 10/1437.

AN ELDERLY woman was found dead in a flat in Torquay on Thursday.

Police, who attended the property in Lisburne Crescent at 1.30pm said there were no suspicious circumstances.

The matter is being treated as a sudden death.