A man who repeatedly beat a teenage girl from St Albans with a metal bar after accusing her of disrespecting his parents has been banned from contacting her for five years.

Amir Khan, 24, was given a 15 month sentence suspended for two years and was placed under two years' supervision by probation officers when he appeared at St Albans crown court for sentence on Monday.

He was angry that the 17-year-old was planning to run away from her home in St Albans.

Khan, from Bradford, confronted the girl, who had been seen in a photograph with a boy, as she was moving her belongings out of the house.

When she told him she needed a break, he accused her of disrespect and began hitting her. He then hit her five or six times with a metal pole. She sent a text to a friend after the attack and the police were called.

A consultant paediatrician found swelling to her left ankle and foot, and multiple injuries  to the face, both arms, both legs, buttocks and abdomen.

Khan pleaded guilty to causing actual bodily harm on June 12 2013. Prosecutor Peter Shaw said Khan had no previous convictions. He made no comment to police questions.