Man used bat on noisy neighbour

A Creswell man kicked down the door to his neighbour's home and hit him with a baseball bat in a dispute about noise, Derby Crown Court heard.

Clive Smith, 41, of Welbeck Street, admitted assault causing actual bodily harm to Mark Wardle.

The court heard Smith and his family endured months of noise nuisance from Mr Wardle, who has since been evicted.

Judge David Price gave Smith 180 hours' community punishment and ordered him to pay £1,000 to Mr Wardle.

Smith kicked in the door and began attacking his neighbour after hearing music coming from the house on 27 December.

'Months of provocation'

John Dee, prosecuting, told the court Mr Wardle heard the sound of breaking glass and saw Smith coming towards him, swinging a baseball bat.

Mr Wardle was struck several times, leaving him with severe bruising and difficulty walking for days afterwards, before Smith's son stopped the attack.

Andrew Easteal, in mitigation, said the incident was entirely out of character for Smith and came only after he had suffered "months of provocation".

Passing sentence, the judge said even the ordeal he had suffered could not justify such a "totally unacceptable" attack.