A WOMAN who has a baby by Wisbech hotelier Jonathan Davies was in tears as a court remanded her in custody this week following an assault on the child s father. Margaret Cassidy assaulted Mr Davies in the Market Place hotel when she was drunk but her fail

A WOMAN who has a baby by Wisbech hotelier Jonathan Davies was in tears as a court remanded her in custody this week following an assault on the child's father.

Margaret Cassidy assaulted Mr Davies in the Market Place hotel when she was drunk but her failure to turn up for probation reports following her conviction last year led to magistrates remanding her in custody pending sentence.

During the fracas, Cassidy bit Mr Davies and hit his face - and Mr Davies sat on her until police arrived.

"If she goes to prison, she will be separated from her child," solicitor John Clarke told Fenland magistrates on Tuesday as he pleaded at Wisbech courthouse to keep Cassidy out of jail.

"The child is growing up in a dysfunctional situation at the moment; it would be more dysfunctional if she was sent to prison today.

"She lives in a room in the hotel, it is a peculiar situation."

Last year the hotel was featured on the Channel 4 series The Hotel Inspector.

Mr Clarke added: "She lives in the same hotel as the father of her child; they have running battles all the time."

The court remanded 42-year-old Cassidy in custody because she had failed to co-operate with the probation service last month, after the court ordered an earlier report. She also failed to turn up at court for sentencing on December 23, and has been in custody since arrested on December 29.

Back in November, Cassidy was found guilty of assaulting the hotel's co-owner Mr Davies on July 13, following a trial. The assault had put Cassidy in breach of a six week suspended sentence she was given for assaulting another co-owner of the hotel, Jacqueline Noot, and damaging a flower pot belonging to Ms Noot.

Prosecuting, Andrea Fawcett said Cassidy and Mr Davies had been partners for two or three years, and their child was 12-weeks old at the time Cassidy assaulted him. The incident happened after Cassidy caused a disturbance in the bar; she was removed, but later returned.

Cassidy pushed and shoved Mr Davies in the chest, and shouted for her child. She bit his forearm and hit him with her fist, causing a cut above his right eyebrow.

During an interview, Cassidy told police she had been drunk, but remembered having a row with Mr Davies.

Mr Clarke said Cassidy "knows deep down" that she has a drink problem. She is due to be sentenced on January 26.