A MAN invited to have a drink with his former girlfriend - and the mother of his daughter - saw red when he found she had called him so she could flaunt the new man in her life in front of him, a court heard yesterday.

Instead of joining the woman in a Harrogate bar, Paul Brecken ran across Station Parade and blacked the eye of his love rival, the town's magistrates were told.

Prosecutor Michael Hammond said Brecken, 29, launched only one punch at Paul Anthony Marlow before Marlow and his brother retaliated and "dealt with him".

Brecken, of Newby Crescent, Harrogate, pleaded guilty to assault and was fined £100 with £55 costs.

Mr Hammond said he had told police who arrested him his ex-girlfriend had wanted to meet him in Tomba's Bar, but before he got there he saw her with her new boyfriend.

"I flipped, didn't I," Brecken said. "I ran across the road and punched him. I simply lost it."

In mitigation Richard Reed said Brecken had lived with the woman for five years and the pair had a daughter.

She had terminated the relationship, but had contacted him regularly asking to see him.

As Brecken was heading for the bar he saw the pair together and realised she only wanted to meet him so he could see the new man in her life and he lost his temper.

Marlow, 20, of Fewston Crescent, Harrogate, appeared before the same court charged with affray arising from the same incident.

He pleaded guilty and magistrates, called for probation reports before passing sentence. He was bailed until May 31.