A MAN who attacked his former girlfriend's dad with a piece of wood in a late night brawl has been jailed for 18 months.

Aaron Gleed armed himself when the man and two mates came to his house to confront him after he had been bothering his ex following a night out drinking.

But the burly 26-year-old, who is already serving a sentence for another piece of drunken violence, got the better of them after grabbing the weapon.

Colin Meeke, prosecuting, told Swindon Crown Court that at the time of the incident Gleed was on bail to the magistrates accused of harassment.

One of the conditions banned him from going to his ex partner's home but on the night of Friday, August 21, into the next morning he was hammering on her door.

She called her dad and, at about 4am, David Andrews and friends Ricky Bailey and Kieran Broderick went to Gleed's house.

"Mr Andrews got out of the car and, as he says in his statement: 'I said "Oi ****, what the **** is going on now?' - helpful opening lines the court may [not] think are designed to placate Mr Gleed," Mr Meeke said.

"Exactly what one expected might happen did: it led to a squabble. The defendant threw down his jacket and there was shouting and screaming.

"Mr Andrews says, 'Somehow I entered the garden, I don't know who punched first. I made contact, not to the extent they would cause damage, I punched him two or three times'.

"If that was where it ended we might not be before this court. What happened then is Mr Gleed went back inside his home and came out with a piece of wood, about the size of a baseball or rounders bat. He set about Mr Andrews with it."

After hitting him to he head and body Mr Andrews suffered a chipped tooth, cuts to his eyebrow and head and general swelling and bruising.

Mr Broderick, who had gone in his wife's car separate to Mr Andrews, was also hit to the head leaving him with ringing in his ears.

Gleed then set about the vehicle hitting it several times with the bat and then kicked Mr Bailey.

When he was arrested he told police: "You better not let me out because someone will get hurt and it won't be me. He came to my house and I was the one getting assaulted."

And he also raged: "You better lock me up because when I get out I am going to petrol bomb David Andrews' house and kill him".

Gleed, of Frobisher Drive, Walcot, admitted unlawful wounding, two common assaults and criminal damage.

The court heard he had a long history of violence dating back to when he was a teenager in the youth court and was currently serving a four-month jail term for a fight in the street.

Rob Ross, defending, said: "The Crown's case that the three men went round to Gleed's parent's house at nearly four in the morning as Mr Meeke quaintly put: 'to have a word'.

"You don't go to someone's house at 4am to have a word. It is apparent they were there for some sort of retribution."

His client started out acting in self-defence, he said, but then got the piece of wood.

Jailing him, Judge Peter Blair QC said: "You attacked these three men not just with your fists but using a weapon."