DIVORCED dad Philip O'Callaghan thought his ex-wife was being attacked when he heard another man's voice in her bedroom, a court heard.

And in the fight that followed the two men crashed against the bedroom window and plunged through it.

Christopher Blackburn had been invited back by O'Callaghan's ex, Carol, after they met at a wedding reception, the court was told.

The couple divorced in 1997 and O'Callaghan had been looking after the children while she went to a friend's wedding in Darwen in June 1999, Preston Crown Court heard.

The court heard at the reception she met a casual friend, Mr Blackburn, and they left the function together at about midnight and went back to her home.

Patrick Williamson, prosecuting, alleged that about an hour after they had gone to bed, Mrs O'Callaghan heard loud banging at the front door of the house in Argyle Street, Darwen, followed by a loud crash and then footsteps coming up the stairs.

Mr Blackburn got out of bed and was putting his trousers on when O'Callaghan entered the room.

"Both fell against a window which broke and the two men fell out of the window. The bedroom was on the second floor, ten to 15 feet from the ground.

"Mr Blackburn hit the pavement but fortunately landed on his feet. He fell on to his right side and felt a sharp pain to a foot," said Mr Williamson.

A neighbour called an ambulance and he was taken to hospital. He had a number of cuts and abrasions but the most serious injury was a fracture of the left heel bone.

O'Callaghan of Broughton Close, Blackburn, told police he had received a telephone call and believed his ex-wife was in trouble as she was epileptic.

He forced his way in, and hearing a man's voice, believing she was being attacked in the bedroom.

O'Callaghan, who admitted causing grievous bodily harm, was given a 12 month conditional discharge after Mr Justice Astill was told he had served the equivalent of an eight-month sentence while on remand in custody.