A DAD who attacked his daughter's boyfriend with a hammer after hearing she had been assaulted walked free from court yesterday.

John Lee was told by a judge that he had misunderstood the situation because the couple had really done no more than have a row.

Teesside Crown Court heard that Lee, 45, was "overly-protective" of his children because of abuse he had suffered as a youngster.

His barrister, Paul Newcombe, said Lee's wife had wrongly told him there had been "a bad argument" or assault on daughter Sophie.

"He went to protect her because of what he understood to be the situation. He had been misinformed about how bad it was," said Mr Newcombe.

The court heard how Ian Fawcett was struck over the head with a hammer during the altercation in his Middlesbrough home in June.

Two other men were with Lee - one armed with a knife - when he went to the house in Rowarth Road, said prosecutor Alex Menary.

Before fleeing with the others in a people-carrier, Lee is said to have warned Mr Fawcett: "If you call the police, I'll kill you."

Lee, of Winslade Avenue, Middlesbrough, admitted affray and was given a community order with 12 months of probation supervision.

Judge Simon Bourne-Arton, QC, told him that he was able to spare him prison because he had spent six months in jail on remand.

"It is about time to let sleeping dogs lie," said the judge. "It is time you had some supervision bearing in mind the difficulties you've had.

"You took it upon yourself to go and defend your daughter. It wasn't as bad as you were led to believe. You misunderstood the situation."

The court heard that Lee was jailed for nine years in 1996 for drugs and firearms offences and has three convictions for carrying weapons.