A MAN has avoided jail after hitting his dad’s neighbour four times with a bat.

Matthew Smith tried to defend his dad when a downstairs neighbour started shouting at him in November last year.

Smith, 21, from Clearwater, Colchester, had been at his dad’s flat and had heard the argument.

He grabbed a bat and went downstairs to confront the neighbour, hitting him four times. The neighbour was left with grazes.

Ipswich Crown Court heard yesterday the fracas had started over a fire in the ground-floor neighbour’s garden.

Isobel Ascherson, prosecuting, said: “There had been a level of continuing disaffection between the neighbour and the defendant’s father.

“They were not on good terms.”

The court heard Smith’s dad called down to his neighbour, to which he gave a response which made Mr Smith pick up a bat and go and threaten him.

Miss Ascherson said: “Mr Smith agrees he hit him four times on the arm with the bat. He said he was not prepared to have his father sworn at.”

Sasha Bailey, mitigating, said he had a bright future ahead despite the incident.

He has just completed a qualification to go into the construction business.

She read out a statement from his dad, who was with him in court.

He said his son was “a bit of a softy” and has turned his life around.

Miss Bailey said: “This is a one- off situation for Mr Smith, acting very much before he thought of what he should have done.

“He is remorseful of his actions.”

Recorder Ian Evans sentenced Smith to a four-month suspended sentence, and a three-year rehabilitation order. He must also carry out 100 hours of unpaid work.

The judge said: “You took on a kind of protective role on behalf of your father and that might be understandable in some circumstances.

“It’s the fact you took the weapon which is the most serious factor.

“Mercifully for you, although you acknowledge quite frankly you hit him four times he sustained minor injuries.

“Hitting somebody with a bat can cause quite serious injuries like a fracture - that illustrates the risk you took by taking the bat with you.”

He had admitted actual bodily harm at a previous hearing last month.