Man avoids jail in ‘Talent’ fight

A MAN who attacked his neighbour after criticisms were made about a contestant on Britain’s Got Talent avoided a jail sentence yesterday.

Michael Coyle, aged 38, was drunk when he overheard neighbours Andrew and Victoria Brown discussing the merits of saxophonist Julian Smith after the show’s final in May this year, Warrington Crown Court heard.

Standing in the garden of their home in Little Neston, Cheshire, Ms Brown told her husband that Smith’s success was due to the “bored housewives’ vote”.

The musician had been placed third in the competition behind runner-up Susan Boyle and the winners, dance group Diversity.

But Coyle, whose mother was being treated for cancer at the time, misheard and thought Ms Brown said “bald housewives’ vote”. He took offence to the comment because his mother had lost her hair.

Coyle then challenged Mr Brown to a fight during which the neighbour was left with a broken nose and a bite mark on his chin.