A YOUNG man who beat a father with an iron bar during a neighbours’ dispute has been given a 12-month community order.

Ben Perkins, of Trinity Close, Evesham, admitted attacking Richard Perry in the town with a 4ft iron weight-lifting bar on August 15.

The 21-year-old Perkins lost his stepfather in an arson attack in Malvern in 2008 and was struggling with the loss which had contributed to an alcohol habit and his behaviour, said his solicitor Simon Deeley.

Colin Heald, prosecuting at Worcester Magistrates Court, said Mr Perry had come home from work “to find his young son upset – saying some older boys had been picking on him”.

Later that evening, he heard his daughter “screaming” at him for help, drawing his attention outside the family home where his wife was involved “in a heated row” with two young men – Ben Perkins and his older brother Shaun.

Mr Perry went out and told his wife to get inside, while Perkins said to him: “If you think you’re big, come down here.”

All parties traded insults in the street and Mr Perry admitted “giving as good as he got,” said Mr Heald.

As Perkins and his brother continued their abuse, Mr Perry became aware that his wife was now behind him grappling with Perkins’ mother Roseann Perkins.

He turned and intervened, grabbing Mrs Perkins around the waist to pull her away.

“He heard two thuds and felt pains across his back,” said Mr Heald.

“He turned around and saw Ben Perkins with an iron bar gloating and boasting that he’d hit him.”

Mr Perry suffered bruising and grazing to his shoulders.

Perkins had only moved “to protect his mother being set upon – as he saw it – by two people,” said Mr Deeley.

He was overly protective, Mr Deeley said, because Perkins had lost his stepfather in the arson attack – the fall-out of which had initially seen him have to be split up from his mother.

Magistrates sentenced him to a community order with 12 months’ supervision and a three-month curfew with a tag.

He was ordered to pay £100 compensation and £85 court costs.

l Stephen George-Davies, of Oak Crescent, Malvern, was jailed for life in August 2009 for the murder of Richard Perkins.

The 52-year-old, who torched a family home while six people slept inside in October 2008, was also convicted of arson with intent to endanger life.

Mr Perkins’ wife Roseann managed to escape along with her three children Shaun, 21, Ben, 18, and Katie, 16, and lodger Robert Sutton.