A PARKING rage attacker has been ordered to pay compensation to a man who suffered a broken jaw when he was punched in the face.

Connor Bain and victim Karl Reichel had argued about parking in a tightly packed residential part of Newton Abbot three days before the verbal argument flared into violence. 

Bain was a passenger in a car and leant out of a window to exchange words with Mr Reichel who, who was in the front garden of his home in Tudor Road putting out recycling on a Saturday afternoon. 

The row led to the two men confronting each other over the garden gate and Bain throwing a single punch that sent Mr Reichel crashing into a rose bush. 

He claimed he was acting in self defence after Mr Reichel had called him a ‘nonce’ but was found guilty of assault causing actual bodily harm by a jury at Exeter Crown Court last month. 

Bain, aged 29, formerly of George Street, Newton Abbot, but now living in Wales, was jailed for 24 weeks, suspended for 18 months and ordered to pay £1,000 compensation by Judge Anna Richardson, sitting at Taunton Crown Court.

 She told him: ‘A broken jaw is a really unpleasant and serious injury which needed treatment to fix it with a metal plate. 

‘I accept there was a degree of provocation in you being referred to in derogatory terms.

‘To your credit, you now have two jobs and are in regular contact with three of your children. I have read carefully about your previous mental health difficulties.’ 

At the trial, Mr Reichel said he was putting out his recycling bin on the afternoon of Saturday May 14, 2022 when he saw Bain drive past as passenger in the car driven by his brother.

He thought they were looking for a parking space and shouted at him that he was a hypocrite because of an incident three days earlier in which Mr Reichel’s car was blocked by Bain and his brother near their home in George Street.

Mr Reichel said he was trying to tell Bain that he was ‘full of nonsense’ but misspoke, calling him a nonce and sparking the attack. 

He wrote a victim impact statement which said: ‘I am new to the area and there seems to be so much hostility over parking. I just want to live peacefully and quietly and not upset the neighbours.’ 

Bain claimed that Mr Reichel armed himself with an empty wine bottle and that he acted in self-defence.

Miss Evie Dean, defending, said Bain has moved away from Devon and has a new and more positive life in Wales where he has stayed out of trouble and is earning £2,300 a month by doing two jobs.