A MALVERN man punched another man outside a pub before following him home and threatening him with a metal bar.

Keith Wright attacked David Olton outside The Crown in Malvern after asking him if he had seen another man in there, Droitwich Magistrates Court was told.

The scuffle broke out when Mr Olton thought his girlfriend was being threatened by Wright and his companion, said Mark Soper, prosecuting.

"Wright punched him in the eye, so he punched him back," he said.

"When they got home they saw Wright and his companion had followed them, and Wright had a bar with which he hit Mr Olton on the arm."

Mr Olton suffered bruising to his wrist and eye after the attack on Monday, July 16.

Wright, aged 20, of The Glade, admitted assault by beating and using threatening and abusive behaviour, but maintained he did not punch Mr Olton first.

"He's a young man who, when he has been drinking, behaves pretty poorly and he makes no secret of it," said David Jackson, defending.

"He had been drinking before the incident. But, if he's going to pick a fight with someone, he could do better then picking a fight with a someone who is 17-and-a-half stone."

Wright was given two community punishment orders of 70 hours each, to run concurrently, and was ordered to pay £100 compensation and £118 court costs.