A FATHER and son allegedly beat up a man in revenge attack in a Haslingden pub after a schoolboy was put behind bars, a jury was told.

Burnley Crown Court heard the alleged victim Jason Peel, 30, had earlier been attacked by the boy and had given evidence against him in court. The teenager was later convicted of assault and sent to detention.

Mark Ward, 39, and Sean Ward, 17, are said to have set about Mr Peel in the Roebuck and left him with a bust lip, a swollen ear and two loose teeth.

The Wards, of Lincoln Place, Haslingden, deny taking revenge and assault causing actual bodily harm.

Jeremy Grout-Smith, prosecuting, said Mr Peel was attacked by the teenager. Then the following month Mr Peel was in the Roebuck with his wife and was on the dance floor. Sean Ward grabbed Mr Peel's shirt and was about to punch him when he was pulled off by a friend of Mr Peel's brother.

About an hour later, Mr Peel passed close to the Wards. Mark Ward grabbed him around the neck, squeezed his throat and threw him to the floor. Sean Ward then punched him.

Mr Grout-Smith said a doorman and ejected the defendants but further punches were thrown at Mr Peel before he succeeded in doing so. Shortly after the Wards were thrown out, Mark Ward's brother Kenneth hit Mr Peel and may well have caused the head wound. He was later cautioned. The prosecutor told the jury Mr Peel was bleeding heavily from the head and mouth. He cleaned himself up, left the pub and flagged down a passing police car. Mr Peel was then taken to hospital where the head wound was stapled.

Mr Grout-Smith said Mark Ward claimed he had seen Mr Peel walking towards him and had pushed him away. He said he had done nothing else because, he claimed, the doorman intervened.

Sean Ward told police he did not touch the alleged victim. The defendant claimed he had heard his father had been put on the ground by a doorman and went to help him.

Mr Grout-Smith alleged: "The defendants were acting together in this matter, jointly attacking one man, making any suggestion of self defence out of the question. It doesn't matter who caused which injury."

The prosecutor added the Wards knew Mr Peel had helped police investigate the offence committed by the schoolboy.

(Proceeding)