A HEALTH and safety officer has pleaded guilty to hitting a man with a bottle in a pub.

James Shepherdson, 42, hit David Crawford on the head with the bottle during a disagreement at Humphrys pub, Darlington.

Shepherdson, a £30,000 a year health and safety manager for United Biscuits, had been drinking with friends on March 23 when the incident happened.

Darlington magistrates heard how Shepherdson started drinking heavily after discovering that his wife was having an affair with an 18-year-old man who worked for the same company.

Shepherdson had been drinking in Humphrys at about 11.20pm when he started acting aggressively towards Mr Crawford, who was standing at the bar.

Mr Crawford told the defendant to calm down and that he did not want to fight. He then turned his back on him, but Shepherdson grabbed his shirt and hit him on the head with a glass bottle.

Paul Pacitto, defending, said: "Mr Shepherdson does accept the mechanics of the offence, although he has no clear recollection of it.

"He has gone though serious domestic upheaval. He lived with a woman 15 years his junior for six years and they got married in 2001.

"Shortly before this incident he found out that she had been seeing an 18-year-old at their place of work and it caused him a great deal of trauma .

"It was a stressful and depressing time for him. He started to drink to excess. He went out drinking in town and he recalls having a disagreement with someone."

The court heard that Shepherdson, of Shildon Street, Darlington, had been signed off from his job for stress and depression, and that he had not touched alcohol since the incident. He is also receiving counselling.

Magistrates adjourned the case until May 23 for reports.