A MAN punched his partner's ex-husband in the face outside his Southampton home leaving him needing surgery, a court heard.
Southampton Crown Court heard John Nicholson, 55, went to Imperial Avenue on February 15 last year to take a photo of a vehicle outside his partner's ex-husband's house.
But when his partner's ex saw him outside, a confrontation began with the pair pushing and shoving each other.
The court heard there had been a long-running issue about the ex not signing divorce papers.
But in the melee Nicholson then proceeded to punch the man, knocking him to the ground, before punching him again five or six times.
The court heard how Nicholson's victim was left needing surgery after he suffered a wound just below his lip in the assault.
Prosecutor Siobhan Linsley said that during the confrontation Nicholson was telling his victim to "sign the divorce papers".
She added that the victim was "self-conscious about the facial injury he sustained" and that he had lost £1,170 in income due to not being able to work for 12 weeks.
He also had to pay £550 in dentistry bills.
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But defending, Jim Osborne argued Nicholson had felt threatened after feeling a hand on his neck in a place he had just received cancer surgery.
"The complainant knew about that as they had known each other for some time," he said.
"He accepts that he felt threatened by this as he felt he was going to be assaulted."
He added that he was in the area in order to protect his partner.
The judge, Recorder James Bromige, said the wound was caused by him after the point where he was punched.
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He said he accepts the first punch was in self-defence but that Nicholson "should have walked away then and there".
He handed Nicholson a nine-week prison sentence suspended for 12 months and ordered him to carry out 150 hours of unpaid work.
He was also told he must pay £750 in compensation to his victim at a rate of £70 per month.
Nicholson, a self-employed mechanic, now of Moot Lane, Downton near Salisbury in Wiltshire, now has a new partner.
He has eight previous convictions for 15 offences during the early 1980s and previously pleaded guilty to the wounding offence on March 16.
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