Man assaulted after motorbike jacket set on fire

44-year-old Alan Michael Wright, a managing director of a contractor firm, assaulted his friend occasioning him actual bodily harm, North Antrim Magistrates Court in Coleraine was told on Wednesday of last week.

The incident happened before 5.53am on May 15 when police were called to accommodation at Limepark near Armoy.

A prosecutor told the court that police were told one of the people in the group, which had travelled from England for the NW200, had set fire “for no reason” to Wright’s motorcycle jacket in the early hours of May 15.

Wright then punched a man on the face and the injured party was taken to a hospital Accident & Emergency with a cut to his lip, laceration to his tongue and a missing tooth.

A defence solicitor said alcohol was consumed by the group of friends and they had been drinking from lunchtime the previous day.

He said there was some “horseplay” and practical jokes being played and he said words were exchanged before the punch and Wright now accepted he should now have done it.

The defence solicitor claimed it was not the injured party who had set fire to the jacket but he became involved in the bust-up.

The solicitor said the two men were best friend’s for years and Wright apologised straight away and after the incident both stayed on in the accommodation and returned home together to England. The solicitor said Wright offered to pay dental costs for his friend.

Wright of Scarisbrick, Lancashire, admitted the assault charge and was fined 400.