A MERE man washed down a Wetherspoons breakfast with cider before kicking his way into a neighbour’s flat, a court heard.

Nicholas Davis Morton pleaded guilty to using violence to secure entry to a flat on The Yews, Mere, and assaulting resident Marcus Dallibar. He appeared before Swindon Magistrates Court on Saturday.

The 30-year-old, also of The Yews, Mere, had barged his way into the flat earlier in the day, after being told his neighbour had been gossiping about him.

Prosecutor Greg Dono said Morton had been drinking at the start of the day in Warminster on Sunday, July 29. He had joined his father for breakfast, gulping down between two to five pints of Thatchers at pub chain Wetherspoons.

“He had enjoyed himself, but he said he was not drunk,” Mr Dono had told magistrates.

Morton was said to have become angry after hearing his neighbour Mr Dallibar had allegedly been telling tales about his time in rehab.

He stormed into Mr Dallibar’s flat and was asked to leave, with police officers called to the disturbance offering some words of advice.

But Morton returned to the flat half an hour later.

Mr Dono said: “The defendant has kicked the closed door with such force that the chain mechanism has been bent.”

Magistrates heard Morton then pushed Mr Dallibar in the face. In a statement read out in court, Mr Dallibar said he did not know why Morton had assaulted him, but presumed his attacker was under the influence of drink or drugs: “I like to think I’m a good neighbour and nothing had happened before this to indicate this would happen.” There was “no weight behind the punch”, he added.

Defending, Mark Glendenning said his client had spent some time in an alcohol rehab clinic. On the day of the incident, Morton had been angered by what was effectively gossip. He had merely pushed Dallibar away.

Magistrates ordered that Morton attend an interview with the probation service at Salisbury Magistrates Court on Friday, August 24. He was awarded unconditional bail.