A teenager who attacked his neighbour with a rake has been spared a jail sentence so he can try to fulfil his dream of joining the army.

Reece Sear went to Vincent Breslan’s home in Teignmouth because he was angry at his son Craig, who he believed had attacked him earlier in the evening.

Sear was shouting up at the house late at night and Mr Breslan was hit across the head as he went out in just his shorts to investigate.

He suffered a blow across the forehead and had to be taken to hospital for a check up after collapsing some 20 minutes later, Exeter Crown Court was told.

Sear, aged 19, of Kingsway, Teignmouth, admitted wounding and was ordered to pay £200 compensation and undertake a thinking skills programme as part of an 18 month community order.

Judge Robert Linford told him he was not imposing an immediate or suspended prison sentence because they would disqualify him from being able to apply to join the army in the future.

He said:"I am able to step outside the normal guidelines because of your young age, your early guilty plea, and the fact there was a degree of provocation in that you were subject to violence before this happened.

"This is your first visit to the Crown Court and it better be your last. You were attacked and lost your temper. You took it out on the father and picked up a rake or some such object and hit him on the head.

"It could have been much more serious than it was. You caused a nasty injury. This really is going to be your last chance.

"Part of the reason for this sentence is that if you received any form of imprisonment you would never have any chance of joining the army, which may be a good place for you to go."

Miss Caroline Bolt, prosecuting, said there was a background of ill feeling which led up to the assault in Kingsway on the night of October 15 this year.

She said:"The defendant returned home agitated and said he had been jumped by a number of people. he was angry and attended the neighbour’s address at about 12.30 am, looking for the people who had assaulted him.

"He was heard shouting ’get down here you f***ing Breslans, I will f***ing kill you’. He pulled and damaged a section of fence belonging to another neighbour.

"Mr Breslan got up and went out in his shorts and was talking to Sear’s mother when he was hit across the head by what he thought was a metal bar."

He needed a hospital check up, had to take two weeks off his work as a driver, and was still suffering from headaches a month after the attack.

Sear later told struck out with a garden rake because he saw Mr Breslan approaching his mother at the gateway and thought she needed protecting.

Mr Martin Salloway, defending, said Sear is currently unemployed and had hoped to join the army before being arrested for this offence and held in custody for two weeks.

He said a probation report had assessed his client as being suitable to receive supervision which will help him curb his temper in the future.