A MAN lashed out with a table leg in a late night street fight, a court was told yesterday.

James Jones, 20, left his flat to settle a disturbance and witnesses saw him strike a man across the back of his head with the table leg.

Jones claimed that the other man, Daniel McGahern, headbutted him first, and that the leg was lying on the ground, said prosecutor Nigel Wray.

Since the incident in Stockton, Jones had served four months in custody for assaulting a police officer, said Jonnie Walker, defending.

Judge Peter Bowers told Jones: "The only thing which is going to stop you going to a young offender's institution is the fact that you have been there since this offence."

Jones, of Norton Road, Stockton, was given a two-year community rehabilitation order, including a Think First course and Cognitive Skills programme, after he pleaded guilty to the June 4 assault.