A CYCLIST injured a man with a curtain pole which he wielded like a baton while riding past him on his bike after a row erupted on a canal towpath in Worcester.

Michael Ward, aged 30, of Tolladine Road, Worcester, launched the attack on Carl Perkins while he was fishing in the city's Canalside, Blackpole, causing an injury to his arm and then rode over a bag of fishing poles, breaking one of them.

Ward admitted assault by beating, possession of an offensive weapon in public and criminal damage of £700 to the fishing pole on September 14 when he appeared at Worcester Magistrates Court on Monday.

Jackie Rogers, prosecuting, said Mr Perkins had replaced Ward at a fishing shop owned by Gary Hickton. Both Mr Perkins and Mr Hickton were fishing on the canal towpath when Ward rode past on his bike four times during which 'words were exchanged - not pleasant words'.

She said: "To some extent the defendant was provoked by what was said and on the fourth time he rode past he produced from inside his shirt a wooden pole and he swung that pole at Mr Perkins. He had his arm up in order to protect his head. He received an injury to his arm as a result of being hit by the pole. He dropped the pole and cycled off." He cycled over a bag containing fishing rods, breaking one and causing £700 of damage. "He said he had been provoked in interview. He said there had been comments about the child he and his partner had lost. He said he had cycled back to his home address where he grabbed a baton, part of a curtain pole. He said when he took it from his home address he intended to hurt Mr Perkins. That was the reason he took the baton with him back down to the canal towpath." However, he said riding over the bag of fishing poles was accidental.

Adrian Harling, defending, said there was a substantial background to the case which needed to be addressed. A date was set for the next hearing at Worcester Crown Court on November 21. He was told as part of his bail conditions not to contact directly or indirectly Gary Hickton, Carl Perkins, David Clark and Andrew Allard. The deputy district judge ordered a report to be prepared ahead of Ward's sentencing.