A FATHER and son who carried out a violent baseball bat attack in front of schoolchildren have been handed suspended prison sentences.

Matthew Coltart, 45, and son Damien, 20, were convicted of affray following a trial at Dorchester Crown Court.

The charge related to an incident in Windsor Road, Dorchester, on September 19 last year.

Philip John ‘PJ’ Walker, 38, was struck over the head by Damien Coltart and required hospital treatment following the incident, which took place in broad daylight as children were leaving school.

The jury in the defendants’ trial heard how the pair, of Carlton Road North, Weymouth, and other individuals had arrived in Windsor Road ‘mob handed’ following a dispute between two families.

They were armed with two baseball bats and a hammer.

Jamie Porter, representing Damien Coltart, said his client suffered from Asperger’s and had acted out of fear rather than any other motive.

He said: “He did indeed strike the victim in this matter but it was a half hearted attempt rather than a sustained attack.

“It was an attack that was based more out of fear and inability to understand his environment than it was an attempt to attack an individual for any particular purpose.”

Tim Shorter, representing Mathew Coltart, said he did not accept his client had ‘led Damien into this offence’ but accepted it had been the father’s idea to go round to Windsor Road.

Recorder James Freeman told the defendants: “I have no doubt that you intended to all go along to the Walkers’ and whatever you intended to do when you got there it must have been clear there was bound to be trouble.”

He added: “There were some schoolgirls walking down the road who were also pretty shocked and that, in one sense, is the most serious part of what happened.

“It's the sort of thing people have every right not to expect should happen in the middle of a residential area in the middle of the afternoon.”

Mr Recorder Freeman sentenced Matthew Coltart to nine months in prison, suspended for 12 months, with a supervision requirement and requirement to attend a thinking skills programme.

He was also made subject to a three month curfew.

Damien Coltart was sentenced to four months in prison, suspended for 12 months, with a requirement to carry out 150 hours of unpaid work in the community.

Both defendants were prohibited from contacting the Walker family for 12 months or entering Windsor Road.

The pair were also ordered to pay £250 compensation each while Matthew Coltart was ordered to pay a victim surcharge of £100 and his son £80.