A COUNCILLOR has appeared in court accused of subjecting his girlfriend to "systematic abuse" after he allegedly swung a punch at her face, head-butted her and struck her in the stomach when she thought she was pregnant.

Kyle-Noel Taylor, pictured, appeared before North Staffordshire Magistrates' Court yesterday to face trial after denying four charges of assault by beating.

The 19-year-old is alleged to have carried out one of the attacks just hours after returning home from a Newcastle Borough Council meeting.

Taylor, who remains a Kidsgrove councillor, is currently suspended from the Labour Party pending the outcome of the legal proceedings.

Magistrates heard he first met Rebecca Jackson while they were at school and the pair began going out when they turned 16. Miss Jackson described it as an "on and off relationship".

She said: "I'm terrified of the boy. I loved him and he meant the world to me, but he hurt me."

She alleged that on January 22 this year, Taylor had attacked her after they began arguing at his home in Victoria Avenue, Kidsgrove.

"I ended up holding a knife towards Kyle to try and get him to leave me alone. I had no intention of using the knife," she said.

In another incident, Miss Jackson heard Taylor mumbling an ex-lover's name in his sleep. She got out of bed and found pictures on his computer of the two of them together.

She said: "I woke him up and asked him about the photographs. He attacked me and said I shouldn't be going through his stuff."

Two months later, there was a further argument after Miss Jackson heard Taylor talking about Facebook in his sleep. When she checked his Facebook page, she discovered messages to another ex-girlfriend.

Miss Jackson alleged Taylor turned on her when she confronted him, leaving her with bruises to her ear, finger, neck and face.

But she added: "He ended up cuddling me, saying if I didn't moan at him, he wouldn't do what he does to me."

Robin Lichfield, defending Taylor, put it to Miss Jackson yesterday she had only complained to police out of jealousy. The 19-year-old replied: "That's not the case."

Taylor has pleaded not guilty to three counts of assault in January and one in March.

When asked if he had swung his arm at Miss Jackson and knocked part of her tooth out, he claimed she had made it up. He said she chipped the tooth while trying to open a bottle.

Taylor also denied causing any other injuries and suggested Miss Jackson's parents could have been responsible for the bruises.

Both Caroline and Stephen Jackson denied the claim yesterday. Mr Jackson said he had slapped his daughter once after she began screaming and he was trying to stop her leaving the house to see Taylor.

The trial continues.