A SNIVELLING thug ordered to pay his ex just £75 for attacking her claims she hurt herself to make a photo more shocking.

Robert Jenney, 30, dodged a jail term despite admitting two assaults on mum Louise Reed.

Louise, 27, was furious he was not locked up and posted the snap of her injuries on Facebook.

But cowardly ex-chef Jenney now claims she injured herself and smeared blood across her face.

He said: “It would not surprise me if she injured herself to make it look worse.

"The police showed me a picture and it was a tiny cut to the top of her nose.

"All the scratch marks and everything on that picture looks like it has been smudged all over the place.”

Jenney, of Middlesbrough, was given a 12-month community order plus a restraining order.

He added: “The way the police went about everything was wrong.

“Putting a female officer in charge of a domestic violence case was wrong.”