A MAN who struck another over the head with a bottle after a night out was placed on probation yesterday.

Karl Nash had been at a party at the TA centre in Coulby Newham, Middlesbrough, in November last year. As he and another man left Nash approached the other man, with whom he had been bickering, and struck him, Teesside Crown Court heard.

Nash, 20, of Beckenham Gardens, Hemlington, Middlesbrough, admitted wounding.

The judge, Mr Recorder Brian Forster QC, placed Nash on probation for two years and ordered him to pay £500 compensation. He also ordered him to pay £250 costs.

Martin O'Neill, prosecuting, said when Nash was arrested he said the other man had grabbed him so he hit him over the head with the bottle in his hand.

Geoffrey Hunter, for Nash, said he had made every effort to put the incident behind him. He and his girlfriend are planning to buy a house in the South-East, where he has a job.

He was a man with a good work record, who wanted to put the matter behind him