AN athletics coach left his two stepsons having nightmares after launching an unprovoked attack on the pair and biting one on the arm.

South Cumbria Magistrates’ Court heard how Karl Wayne Singleton, who was made subject to a restraining order, punched his stepson Archie Brown several times before biting the other stepson when he intervened.

Singleton, of Ulverston Triathlon Club, had hit out at Archie a number of times in a dispute that started over the whereabouts of a pair of tweezers.

The court was told that the brothers, aged 18 and 21, had been left feeling ‘anxious’ and had nightmares following the assault at the family home in Meadowside Close in Endmoor on May 14.

Prosecutor Peter Kelly said: “The defendant burst into Archie’s room. He was saying ‘where are my tweezers’.”

Mr Brown then handed them over, before Singleton pushed Mr Brown off his chair and punched him several times.

The 45-year-old left the room but returned and punched the victim ‘three or four times in the back of the head’.

Mr Kelly then described how Alisdair heard a commotion from his brother’s bedroom and went in to grab the shoulders of his stepdad, who then bit him on the arm.

In mitigation, Jacqueline Partington said Singleton’s relationship with his stepsons had been strained.

She said Singleton, who had no previous convictions and pleaded guilty to two counts of assault, had suffered with depression and was ‘on the edge’ after his coaching work dried up during the Coronavirus pandemic.

The coach was sentenced to 150 hours of unpaid work and made subject to a six month restraining order.