A FORMER Environment Agency employee who smashed his way into a house at night armed with a lump hammer was convicted of affray last Friday.

Antony Hediger, from Evesham, drank six pints of lager before the terrifying incident on New Year's Eve 2003.

One of the occupants, Ryan Stephens, a former friend of the defendant who had gone fishing with him, told Worcester Crown Court he had received two heated phone calls from Hediger who accused him of showing "no respect".

Hediger, aged 42, of Shepherd's Pool, was remanded in custody at the end of the four-day trial during which he defended himself.

Judge Michael Dudley ordered a pre-sentence report after the unanimous guilty verdict by the jury.

Hediger had previous convictions for arson, theft, driving while banned and drink-driving, revealed prosecutor William Rickarby. He had suffered from a condition which causes sudden outbursts of temper but had received treatment for it.

The court heard how Hediger and a former business partner went drinking at the Vauxhall Inn in Evesham. The other man got very drunk and was asked to leave. Hediger helped escort him to a car.

Farm manager Mr Stephens had also been drinking at the pub and his sister, Joanna, was on duty at the premises as a waitress.

They were staying at a house in Pershore Road, Evesham, the home of Miss Stephens' boyfriend Wayne Langston.

Her sister Kelly was asleep in the front room where Hediger burst in through a window at around 1am, leaving her terrified.

The two men raced downstairs and grabbed Hediger, forcing him against a mantelpiece. He threatened one man with the hammer before fleeing.

Hediger claimed he was at home at the time of the incident and produced two alibi witnesses.

But police found fragments of glass in his hair and a forensic scientist identified them as coming from the broken window.

Neither Mr Stephens nor Mr Langston knew why their home had become a target.

Hediger, who refused to give evidence from the witness box, alleged that another man in Evesham held a grudge against the victims and that tensions were running high at the time. The defendant is likely to be sentenced at Wolverhampton Crown Court in three weeks time.