A man was beaten up twice by someone he had never met before, a court was told.

The unprovoked attacks by Shaun Dunn brought him a second ban from a Ripon nightclub.

Harrogate magistrates heard how 28-year-old Dunn had been banned from all the city's pubs and clubs two years ago after being convicted of using threatening, abusive or insulting words or behaviour provoking a fear of violence being used.

Yesterday, he was back in court accused of a similar offence.

Mark Haigh, prosecuting, said Dunn, who pleaded guilty, had been in the Matrix club in Kirkgate, Ripon, on March 4 when he walked up to a stranger and punched him in the face. A few minutes later Dunn walked into a nearby takeaway and dragged the same man from a seating area.

Dunn was traced by police but told them that although he had been in the club and the takeaway, he could remember nothing of what had happened there.

In mitigation, Clive Farndon said Dunn had spotted the man looking at him in a way that suggested there might be an attack from him.

Similar things had happened in the past, when he had been threatened and set upon while out enjoying himself.

Court chairman David Gravells told Dunn there were no mitigating factors to set beside acts that had been reckless and unprovoked.

Dunn, of Ambrose Road, Ripon, was made subject to a community order requiring probation supervision for a year and 40 hours of unpaid work. He was also banned from the Matrix for six months and told to pay £70 costs.