A father who was convicted for slapping his teenage daughter says he would do the same again if it made her respect him.

Forklift driver Steven Hanson admits giving Gemma, 14, a 'backhander' after she yelled abuse at him and refused to go to school.

When he did eventually drag her there she reported him for assault. In court last week, he was ordered to do 50 hours unpaid work and pay £60 costs.

But the Premdor worker, who is 42, said he would do it again or else Gemma would 'walk all over him'. She even taunts her parents by saying they cannot do a thing or she will "go to social services".

He said: "In a way I regret what happened but in another I don't because she just defies me. She's got no respect.

"Why shouldn't I be able to discipline her? It never hurt me, when I was a kid the bobbies used to give us a clip and we'd get the cane."

The day before the assault Gemma had smashed a window at the family's home on Brookhill Road, Kexborough, and had assaulted her mother, Karen, a carer.

Steven believes the law is at fault. He said: "How can they justify her braying her mother and breaking a window and just giving her a caution?

"My hands are tied and she's walking all over me. She keeps pushing and pushing and one day I shall do it again, I know I will.

"I'm placid and can ignore her shouting and balling but when she lashes out at Karen that's when I snap.

"I don't believe this should have gone to court, I was trying to get her to school.

"If she hadn't gone to school I would have been in court for that. It's not as though I crack her every day, it was a one-off."