A MONMOUTH dad lost his temper and struck his children when they did not eat their breakfast, a court was told.

Paul Moore, prosecuting, told Newport magistrates the 39-year-old man - who cannot be named for legal reasons - returned home from a night shift and took his wife to work, leaving his children to eat their breakfast.

When he got back he discovered the youngsters, aged 11 and nine, had not eaten their food so he put it into the bin and told them to eat it from there before hitting them, said Mr Moore.

He then took the children to their grandparents' house. "He was still very angry and his parents tried to calm him down," Mr Moore told the court. "This didn't work and there was an unpleasant scene."

A next-door neighbour could hear screaming and rang 999. When police arrived they found the children were both upset - the boy was bleeding from the mouth and the little girl had a thick lip.

The man pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing to assaulting his children.Yesterday magistrates gave him a community order, including a supervision requirement, for 24 months.

Ashley Harkus, defending, said it was clearly a regrettable and upsetting set of circumstances.

He said his client did have difficulties with his temper but had received medication from his doctor. He had stopped taking the tablets because he was asked to drive at work, Mr Harkus added.

On this day, employees where he worked had been told there were going to be a number of redundancies. Nine months before, he had taken on a mortgage, he was concerned about how he was going to support his family and that tipped him over the edge, said Mr Harkus.

Social services were involved with the family and there was no question of him returning home.