A man who went into a pub in Ramsey and attacked a customer claimed he had himself been assaulted earlier in the evening.

Douglas magistrates were told Andrew Raymond Moughtin, of North Shore Road in Ramsey, went into the Commercial pub on Market Street and pushed another man off his stool. He also broke a wooden handrail spindle by the bar in the March 5 attack.

For the prosecution, Michael Jelski said police were initially called out to do a welfare check on 27-year-old Moughtin after he was seen on East Street with a bleeding nose.

But by the time they found him, he had already launched his attack in the Commercial. A caller told police Moughtin was outside the pub shouting, but they tracked him down a little later on Bowring Road near Shoprite.

’He was drunk and had blood on his face and his nose was also swollen. He looked as if he had been punched,’ Mr Jelski told magistrates.

Moughtin was arrested and bundled into the back of the police van where he started throwing himself around in the cage, which made his nose bleed considerably more.

He was taken to hospital, then arrested again as he left just before 8pm.

He was interviewed by police without legal representation, Mr Jelski said.

Defending him, Roger Kane said: ’He has entered the Commercial while he was upset, having earlier been assaulted by a man in the Commercial. He went in and pushed the person off a stool.

’That is the extent of it.’

Moughtin admitted one offence of engaging in disorderly behaviour on licensed premises. The offence puts him in breach of a suspended sentence so matters were adjourned for a pre-sentence report. He was bailed with a £250 recognisance until June 15.