An off-duty barman left a grandfather with a broken hip after pushing him over as they both walked back from a pub.

Barry Pester thought the victim had been winding him up and shoved him to the ground without realising that it risked causing him a serious injury.

The grandfather suffered a cracked hip joint that required a complete hip replacement and affected his mobility for weeks after the late-night attack in Budleigh Salterton.

He and Pester had been drinking in different groups at the Salterton Arms but there was a confrontation in Moorland Road when they came across each other as they were both going home at 9.30pm.

Pester had drunk three or four pints of lager but said he had was not drunk.

The 54-year-old, of Poplar Road, admitted causing grievous bodily harm and was jailed for ten months, suspended for 18 months by Judge Timothy Rose at Exeter Crown Court.

He was also ordered to do 150 hours unpaid community work and pay £300 compensation.

The judge told him: “The facts of this case are straightforward but there was a terrible outcome.

“You had some kind of confrontation after you left a pub.

“You say he was being confrontational and provocative.

“He does not recognise that.

“I don’t need to resolve that but you did not need to do what you did.

“You were not under any threat of physical assault and had walked away once and should have walked away a second time and had nothing more to do with the situation.

“Whatever the circumstances, you decided to push him quite forcibly to the extent that you pushed him over and he fell on the floor.

“It was a single push with no kicking or punching but you lost control over the outcome and apart from the injury to his hip, he also struck his head, and people can die from that.”

The victim said he had no idea why he was attacked but Pester approached him after saying ‘let’s get this over with’.

Rachel Smith, defending, said Pester expressed remorse from the outset and admitted the assault when interviewed by police.