A Worcestershire man told a court how his bid to stop a man he thought was a burglar ended with him being knocked to the floor and breaking his nose.

Neil Warne was walking home with his girlfriend after a meal out at about 9.30pm on March 25 last year when he saw a man dressed all in black shinning up a drainpipe at a building in Worcester Road, Malvern.

He immediately thought it was a burglar and called out.

But the man was Benjamin Davies, a 24-year-old resident of The Oaks care home, who was climbing back into his first floor room before staff found out he had forced a sash window and left the building without permission, Charles Hardy, prosecuting, told Worcester Crown Court.

The man went to the gate of the building where Mr Warne spoke to him and asked him what he was doing. He said he lived there but he had no keys and didn’t want to knock on the door.

Mr Warne, a surveyor from Malvern, said he could see people inside the large building, which he didn’t know was a residential home for people with learning difficulties, and suspected the man was trying to break in.

The man became threatening and asked Mr Warne if he wanted a punch in the face.

Mr Warne realised they were the only people in the street and he was “out of his depth.”

He turned to walk away, putting an arm around his girlfriend to protect her, intending to call the police.

As he turned, he was hit on the back of the head and knocked to the ground.

He told the court there was “a lot of blood.” He was found to have a broken nose, cuts to his face and an orbital fracture of the eye socket which was still causing him problems with his vision.

Davies, who was subject to 30-minute checks at the home by a member of staff, was found to have forced a window in the toilet of his room wide enough to climb out.

Davies was charged with causing grievous bodily harm. He was earlier found unfit to plead and was not in court. The jury found unanimously that he had been responsible for the act.

Mr Hardy told the court Davies had 14 convictions for 25 previous offences including three for assault.

Martin Butterworth, defending, said Davies had ADHD, Asperger’s and underlying paranoid schizophrenia and needed treatment. He is now in hospital.

Recorder Myles Watkins said Davies, through no fault of his own, had difficulties and he would give careful consideration to how he should be dealt with at a later date.