A 26-YEAR-OLD man who punched a boy in the face for looking in his general direction has been jailed.

Worcester Magistrates Court was told Tony Connor had an “anger problem”, by solicitor Becky Connolly.

Connor, of Sebright Av-enue, Battenhall, Worcester, had been into the city to drop off an inhaler during a brief meeting at the Lifestyle convenience store at the end of Broad Street in Worcester at about 5.40pm on Monday, January 2.

But the inhaler – for the estranged mother of his child – was not needed and having had a wasted journey he was angry, said Miss Connolly.

Clare Linehan, prosecuting, said: “The teenager saw Mr Connor walk past and as he did Mr Connor said to him, ‘What are you looking at?’”

Connor walked off, but turned around to pick up some headphones he had forgotten.

Retracing his steps, he traded words with the youngster, who was sitting on a bench near the end of the street.

Connor this time went over, saying to the boy: “If you look at me like that again I’ll knock your teeth out,” said Ms Linehan.

The youngster said he had not been looking but Con-nor’s response was to punch the boy in the left side of his head, splitting his lip and knocking him sideways across the bench.

Connor then walked off, and police were called.

Officers said they detained Connor a short distance away saying “he tried to hide when he saw the police car”, said Ms Linehan.

District judge Ian Strong-man took a dim view of the “unprovoked attack”, ob-serving Connor had a history of violence-related offending including three convictions for battery in the last three years.

Miss Connolly, in mitigation, said her client knew his behaviour was “unacceptable” and asked if Connor could be placed into “an intense” anger management and alcohol treatment course, so avoiding jail.

But Mr Strongman said Connor had “shown no remorse at all”, saying he had only admitted the attack on the day of his trial, putting his young victim “through another ordeal”.

He said Connor had gone out of his way “to pick on the victim” and jailed him for 23 weeks, adding he would serve half out on licence.