Unhappy birthday as North Lynn man admits baseball bat incident

A North Lynn man who took a baseball bat to the home of a person he’d just rowed with spent part of his 50th birthday in court.

Paul Smith, of Turbus Road, admitted having an offensive weapon in a public place and criminal damage in Estuary Close.

He and another man went to the house at around 9pm on October 3, 2020.

The mother of who they were looking for heard banging at the door and was scared, Lynn Magistrates’ Court was told yesterday.

She looked out and saw two people in dark clothing, one with a baseball bat.

The other man went to smash a window but Smith told him: “No mate, she has kids in there.”

As they left, Smith shouted that he would be back.

In police interview, Smith said he taken the baseball bat for protection in case he was attacked.

Alison Muir, mitigating, said her client had not gone out looking for trouble that night but one of his group had been picked on while they were in a pub.

Two people were then asked to leave by the landlord. Smith later found them waiting for him and he was attacked.

“It was that incident that set abut the chain of events,” added Miss Muir. “Rather than going back home and calling police he rather foolishly decided to go to [the person’s] house. It soon became obvious that [the person] and his friend weren’t there.”

The court was told that Smith had since been hospitalised by an attack by the person and his brother, who had subsequently been issued with restraining orders.

Smith was given a 12-month community order with 20 rehabilitation activity requirement days and ordered to pay £650 compensation.