An assault victim has now been jailed after launching an assault on a man he thought was his attacker.

Stephen Arthur Dockerill, of Sulby Road, Willaston, was jailed for 14 weeks after admitting common assault.

The sentence includes the activation of a 12-week suspended sentence.

Magistrates heard that Dockerill, aged 51, thought his victim had assaulted him during last year’s TT but due to his drunken state he got the wrong person.

Dockerill’s victim reported being assaulted by him outside his home in James Street, Douglas, as he smoked a cigarette on April 17.

The man said Dockerill was walking past at 11.50pm and asked for a cigarette. He told Dockerill he had none left and watched him walk past.

But Dockerill then turned back and approached the man again asking him if he knew someone called ’Davison’.

Dockerill then suddenly started punching the man to the side of the head.

The man fell to the ground and Dockerill then aimed kicks to his ribs.

CCTV footage showed Dockerill leaving the area in a taxi which dropped him off at his Sulby Road home.

A basis of plea was entered by Dockerill’s advocate Ian Kermode admitting to punching the man but stating that he had thought he was someone who had assaulted him previously.

In the plea Dockerill said that he had only kicked the man because he had grabbed his testicles while he was on the ground.

Magistrates ruled this would not make a material difference to the sentencing and that Dockerill would be sentenced on his version of events.

Mr Kermode said: ’The assault consisted of two punches being thrown and only one connected. Mr Dockerill had been assaulted during TT 2017 and made a formal complaint to police.

’He mistakenly believed the man he was saw was one of the assailants.

’Clearly he was intoxicated and that accounts for his decision to throw those punches. There is no medical evidence of any injuries.’

He added: ’At the time Mr Dockerill was struggling with a range of personal issues.

’He accepts he resorted to an inappropriate coping strategy of consuming alcohol to excess.’

The court heard that Dockerill was subject to a three-month sentence, suspended for two years, imposed in February 2017 for an offence of criminal damage.

Magistrates then activated the suspended sentence in full.