Ex-officer says punch thrown in self-defence

Robin Mullett and his sister Nicola are accused of launching an attack on Robert Cummings at his mother's Rowley Regis flat on December 22 last year.

They said they had gone to confront him over months of loud noise he had made, affecting the health of their mother Christine, who lived in the flat below.

Robin Mullett is alleged to have forced his way into the flat of Laura Cummings before punching her son and stamping on his head as he lay on the floor.

But, giving evidence before Birmingham Crown Court yesterday, Mullett, aged 40, of Highting Close, Stourport, said he had never passed the threshold of the flat.

He told the jury Mr Cummings had stormed down the stairs before grabbing him first.

He said: "I talked to my mother around 9am on the phone and she told me about the noise the night before.

"I put it in an anti-social behaviour log we had been given by the council and went to work. I went around my mother's later.

"She was going to stay with Nicola for a few days over Christmas and I met them outside my mother's flat."

Mullett said he planned to go around to the Cummings' flat to 'frighten Robert into stopping his noise' but had not intended any violence. Nicola decided to go with him.

"I went to the flat and knocked a couple of times. Laura Cummings answered and I told her I wanted to speak to Robert about the noise," he said.

Mullett said Mr Cummings had come running down the stairs 'two at a time'. "He was shouting and swearing.

He pushed past his mother and I initially thought he was going to the slam the door in our faces. Instead he gripped my windpipe with his left hand and curled his right into a fist."

He went on: "On instinct I tried to pull his hand away from my throat and with the other punched him directly in the face.

"He did not release his grip but flinched. I punched him a second time."

Mullett, who formerly served the Wolverhampton area for West Midlands Police, said he and his sister went to Brierley Hill Police Station to report what had happened. Mullett denies wounding with intent and assault.

His sister, 47, of Brockmoor, Brierley Hill, denies assault.

The trial continues.