Colin Hunt brutally battered an Amazon delivery driver after he knocked on his door while he was watching football at home as he launched several punches towards the unknowing driver

A savage Amazon customer brutally battered a delivery driver who had unwittingly annoyed him when he knocked on his door to hand him a parcel while he was engrossed in a football match on TV.

Colin Hunt was "abrupt" when he opened the door to the unknowing delivery driver about him being disturbed while watching football at his home and completely over-reacted when the driver allegedly spat at him on the doorstep of his home in Goole. Hunt said the driver "seriously provoked" him by spitting before angrily throwing a series of punches in revenge during what was described as a "prolonged and persistent" beating on March 12 last year, a court heard earlier this week.

The 63-year-old, of Henry Street in Goole, denied assaulting the driver, causing actual bodily harm, last year but was soon convicted after a trial in Beverley Magistrates Court. The case was then committed to Hull Crown Court for sentence, Hull Live reports.

Abigail Rowley, prosecuting, said that the driver went to Hunt's home to deliver a parcel for Amazon at 3.17pm and he knocked on the door. "He could hear shouting from inside the property," said Miss Rowley. Hunt appeared at the window before opening the door with force. He asked the delivery driver: "Why the f*** are you knocking like that? I am watching the football."

Hunt stood very close to the man, causing the driver to step backwards, and as the man handed the parcel over, Hunt punched him in the nose. The man staggered backwards and Hunt pushed his thumb into the man's eye. They wrestled with one another before the delivery driver managed to get Hunt off him. Hunt approached him and threw clenched-fist punches at him, two of which hit him in the head area.

The driver tried to get back to his van but Hunt continued to throw punches, which the man tried to block. The driver managed to walk to his van but Hunt pressed him against it and he continued to throw punches. The driver threw a punch in self-defence but Hunt launched five or six more punches, mostly aimed at the man's head. Hunt pulled him to the floor and he continued to shout and throw punches at his body.

The driver punched Hunt, allowing him to get inside his delivery van and he shouted for the police. "He drove further down the street in an attempt to distance himself," said Miss Rowley. Hunt returned to the van but the driver told him to get away and he pressed the van's horn. Police attended and the driver was visibly distressed and crying. "Blood was running down his face," said Miss Rowley. There was blood inside the van.

"It was a prolonged and persistent assault with multiple punches thrown," said Miss Rowley. "The victim was vulnerable due to the circumstances that he was a delivery driver just doing his job."

The delivery driver later said: "I come to work every day and I do not expect to be assaulted by a customer for delivering what they have requested to be delivered."

Hunt, a supermarket worker, told the court that he had never denied punching the delivery driver but he did dispute the number of times that it was claimed that he hit the man. "I agree that everybody should be able to go about their job without fear of being attacked," he said. "I was severely provoked."

He claimed that the delivery driver spat at him and this was what enraged him. "Nobody expects to be spat at," he said. "I totally accept that I reacted badly to all that. I feel that I was severely provoked." Hunt had no previous convictions. Recorder Simon Jackson KC told Hunt: "What you did was way beyond any form of self-defence because you were not under attack at that stage."

Hunt was "abrupt" with the delivery driver after he knocked at the door. Recorder Jackson said that he accepted Hunt's claim that the driver spat at him. "I am satisfied that you would not have acted in the way that you did unless you had been provoked," he said. "You went back in your house but you couldn't leave it and you went back out again. There are anger issues when you are stressed."

Hunt was given 150 hours of unpaid work and 10 days of rehabilitation. He was ordered to pay £705 costs.