A BARRHEAD mum battered her boyfriend with her handbag after he got so drunk he collapsed.

Robyn Lafferty was on a night out with Iain Scott McGarry in Paisley in February when violence erupted.

The couple began arguing as they were walking through the town centre and Mr McGarry, who was holding a bottle of beer at the time, ended up falling over a concrete bench in County Square on February 27.

As he lay on the ground, 26-year-old Lafferty ran up and kicked him, before raining blows on his head with her handbag.

Lafferty appeared at Paisley Sheriff Court on Tuesday to admit her guilt.

She pleaded guilty to assaulting Mr McGarry by kicking him on the body and repeatedly striking him on the head with her handbag while he was lying on the ground.

Defence solicitor Tom Williamson said Lafferty, who has a four-year-old child and has been in a relationship with Mr McGarry for two years, acted as she had because she was at the end of her tether.

He told the court: “She had gone out and had far too much to drink, although I think, in fairness, Mr McGarry was much worse for wear.

“The point of the argument was the extent of his intoxication and she reacted, in the way described, in annoyance.

“She is still with him, the relationship continues.”

After hearing that Lafferty has no previous convictions and is currently at college, Sheriff David Pender deferred sentence for six months and told her to be of good behaviour.

Lafferty, of Braeside Drive, is set to learn her fate in October.