A Maldon publican accused of chasing three men with a baseball bat after they failed to pay for their drinks, before breaking the jaw of one of them, said he acted in self-defence.
Richard Henfrey, 54, an ex-Maldon District Councillor and the landlord at the Carpenters Arms in Gate Street, told jurors at Chelmsford Crown Court yesterday that he felt threatened by the three men who left the pub without paying for their three pints of Fosters in August last year.
The three men have claimed that Mr Henfrey followed them armed with the baseball bat and shouted at them to pay up.
When they got to within one metre of him he is alleged to have swung the bat, striking fork lift truck driver, Karl Woplington and fracturing his jaw, requiring him to take two weeks off from work, the jurors heard.
Henfrey, who denies assaulting Karl Woplington causing actual bodily harm and having a baseball bat as an offensive weapon, both on August 18 last year, claims the men had "offered violence" to him.
The trial continues.
