An angry dad who threw a baseball bat at noisy and aggressive neighbours ended up with a “one way” road sign lodged in his living room window in retaliation, Bradford Crown Court heard.

Raivo Andersons went out into the street to remonstrate with a group of people keeping his four-year-old son awake in Darwin Street, Canterbury, Bradford.

Andersons, 27, was abused and had road signs thrown at him when he complained, prosecutor Heather Gilmore said yesterday. He fetched a baseball bat and threw it, hitting Jamie Terry in the face and fracturing his cheekbone and eye socket.

Andersons pleaded guilty to unlawful wounding and possession of the baseball bat as an offensive weapon, on February 7 last year.

Miss Gilmore said that Andersons’ car was damaged by the crowd and the road sign hurled through his window in retaliation.

A man had been arrested on suspicion of causing that damage.

Andersons told the police he had rung both them and Bradford Council on numerous occasions asking them to do something about the noisy, anti-social behaviour near to his home.

He said he had had problems with one household for eight months, with people coming and going at all hours.

In mitigation, Andersons’ barrister, Nikki Peers, said Andersons was a hard working man guilty of one throw of a bat. The group in the street was “extremely aggressive and in drink”.

What he did was “arguably excessive self defence”, she said.

Judge David Hatton QC sentenced him to nine months’ imprisonment, suspended for 12 months, with 120 hours’ of unpaid work. He said he accepted the group was aggressive and threatening, and had caused a lot of damage to Andersons’ property.

Sentencing him Judge Hatton said: “I accept that you committed this offence having been severely provoked by a considerable amount of disturbance which was occurring, not for the first time, among your neighbours.”

Andersons had now moved away from the area, the court was told.