A MAN attacked his brother with a piece of wood, fearing he may be going to assault their mother, a court heard.

Luke Harriman was driving along Seaside Lane, Easington Colliery, when he saw his brother Jake standing looking at his mobile phone, on the afternoon of December 8, 2020.

Deborah Smithies, prosecuting, told Durham Crown Court he pulled up, approached his brother and an altercation followed, during which Luke Harriman struck him to the top of his head with a piece of wood he picked up from the ground, nearby.

Miss Smithies said the background was an alleged attack by Jake Harriman on their mother two days earlier, an incident which police attended.

She said when interviewed, Luke Harriman told police he acted as he did to defend himself from his brother as he knew he had, “a psychiatric background.”

The 33-year-old defendant, of Park Wood Avenue, Bearpark, admitted affray, after the Crown agreed to no longer pursue original charges of wounding with intent and possessing an offensive weapon.

Judge Ray Singh told him, “whatever the rights and wrongs”, of the background to the incident, “your behaviour left an awful lot to be desired”, observed by “alarmed” members of the public.

He passed a six-month prison sentence, suspended for two years, with an 8pm to 6am home curfew for three months.

Judge Singh warned Harriman, who has only one previous conviction, that any further offending would lead to activation of the six-month prison sentence.

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