Kirkby man assaulted former best friend and smashed his door with a claw hammer

Becky Allsop, prosecuting, said Daniel Evans had been "the best of friends" with his neighbour for a number of years but fell out with him after he called the police because of domestic incidents.

On April 23 Evans began banging on his neighbour’s door with a claw hammer and smashed a £500 window, and shouted: “Wait until I see you tomorrow.”

He initially denied criminal damage and was on police bail, on condition he had no contact with his neighbour, when he confronted the man two weeks later.

He was filmed gesticulating and posturing while two older women tried to keep him away from his neighbour but he managed to throw two punches. Evans grabbed his neighbour's hand and bent it back, breaking the skin. At one point he fell over a low garden wall and cried out.

He returned later to kick on his neighbour's door so hard it shook while shouting, “Come on I'll take you on.” He was arrested nearby on his bike with four small bags of amphetamine, which were for his own use.

Ryan Higginbotham, mitigating, said since social services got involved with his family Evans has been using alcohol on a much more frequent basis and suffering with his mental health.

“He is quite capable of being rehabilitated,” he added.

Evans, 33, of Sycamore Avenue, Kirkby, admitted assault, possession of class B drugs, and criminal damage, when he appeared at Mansfield Magistrates Court on Wednesday.

Sentencing was adjourned for probation reports until May 30.