A dad was hit with a fence post studded with nails by a teenager he had told off for swearing in front of his children.

Jonathan Wright was left with severe head injuries in the attack because he remonstrated with 18-year-old Michael Donohoe.

Bradford Crown Court heard yesterday that Mr Wright was playing football in the garden of his Keighley home with his children when he heard Donohoe and two of his friends swearing close by.

Mr Wright was "shocked and disgusted" that his children had to hear that kind of language and when his little girl asked him what one of the profanities meant he went to confront Donohoe and his friends.

They were outside kicking a football against his van but despite Mr Wright asking them to move away they refused and Donohoe said that he was going to find something to hit him with.

The court was told that Donohoe walked off towards a nearby park and was followed by Mr Wright.

The teenager then picked up an 18-inch fence post which had nails in it and threw it at Mr Wright before running off.

The post hit Mr Wright on the side of the head leaving him a three-inch gash just above the ear that required seven stitches.

Mr Wright also suffered bleeding inside the ear canal which temporarily reduced his hearing.

At an earlier hearing Donohoe, of Woodhouse Walk, Woodhouse, Keighley pleaded guilty to a charge of wounding.

The court was also told that Donohoe had three previous convictions for assault when he attacked a train conductor and assaulted two women in a nightclub.

Bradford Crown Court was told by Stephen Couch, mitigating, that the teenager had acted out of stupidity and his male ego when he attacked Mr Wright.

Mr Couch told Recorder Hillary Anderson that Donohoe now had a steady job and was planning on taking a plastering course in September. He urged her to defer sentence to see how Donohoe did with a community rehabilitation order that is already in place.

Recorder Anderson said that this was a "nasty offence" but agreed to defer sentence for six months.

Donohoe was told that if he committed any further offences in the six months then custody would be "almost inevitable."