A doorman has been convicted of assaulting a difficult pub customer he was trying to get to leave at closing time.

But father-of-three Jonathan Laver was spared jail after a judge said he had tried his best to get Patrick Ascott to go, "but he was having none of it".

Laver was sentenced to 100 hours' unpaid work under a community order and ordered to pay £300 costs.

A jury heard how two police officers saw the 39-year-old, also a construction worker, punch Mr Ascott in the face and tell him: "You deserved that."

He added as the victim lay injured on the ground: "You want it, come and get it."

Anthony Prosser, prosecuting, told Maidstone Crown Court the officers saw there was a disturbance outside The Red Lion in Sittingbourne High Street at around 1am on May 22 last year.

One later described seeing Laver drag Mr Ascott out of the pub and across the pavement into the road.

"He said the customer was like a rag doll in the defendant's hands," said Mr Prosser.

"He said he held the customer at arms' reach and then punched him in the face."

"he said the customer was like a rag doll in the defendant’s hands…” – anthony prosser, prosecuting

Mr Ascott was also arrested for alleged affray and assault, but was bailed because he had to go to hospital for treatment to his cut face.

Before he did so, the doorman was also heard to say to him: "You want some more I will see you tomorrow."

Laver, of Staplehurst Road, Sittingbourne, denied assault causing actual bodily harm, claiming he acted in lawful self-defence.

He hit out, he said, because he believed Mr Ascott was going to assault him, but he was convicted.

Judge Philip Statman said he accepted Laver had set out with the intention of pacifying a difficult man.

"You tried your best inside the public house to ask him to leave, but he was having none of it," he said.

Laver struck him once and in all likelihood on the way to the ground he hit a bin, causing an unattractive facial injury, he said.

The judge said Laver was a hard-working father and husband, adding: "It is not easy raising a family these days. In the construction industry you will be working long and hard and it is extremely physical work."