HAMMER attack victim Henry Webster was “egged on” by fellow white pupils towards a confrontation with Asian pupils hours before the attack that has blighted his life, London’s High Court heard yesterday.

In the second day of a million-pound lawsuit brought against Ridgeway School in Wroughton by the Webster family the court heard the initial spark for the violence of January 17, 2007, was a lunchtime clash between Mr Webster – accompanied by several of his friends – and a group of Asian boys.

Mr Webster admitted punching one boy in the face after being jostled and insulted.

The school’s QC, Ronald Walker, asked: “Why should you want to fight when all that happened is that they swore at you and pushed you?”

Mr Webster replied: “I think they said to me ‘let’s go and find them and see what they have to say for themselves’,” although he added that he was “unsure” about going with them because he had already made clear he “didn’t want to fight”.

The white boys encouraged him to confront the Asian teenagers, he added, not necessarily to start a fight, but to “cause trouble”.

Referring to Mr Webster’s police interview, given shortly after the attack, Mr Walker said Mr Webster seemed to have had doubts about becoming involved in the confrontation through fear of getting into trouble, but “then thought that you may as well, due to peer pressure”.

Mr Webster said he wanted to prove he “wasn’t weak” after his friends were “bigging him up to go and try and find the Asians”.

This ended in a stand-off between “at least 20 white kids” and the Asian group, he said, with Mr Webster and one Asian boy engaging in some fruitless “pushing” before the crowds dispersed without further violence.

The subsequent confrontation – which led to the hammer attack – occurred several hours later when a fight seemed “inevitable”, according to Mr Webster.

He said: “I don’t now remember initially agreeing to fight but I do remember that, by this stage in the day, it seemed to be inevitable that I would have to have the fight.

“The reason I agreed to the fight in the first place was because I felt that this was the only way I could sort things out between me and the Asians.”

“I knew that if I didn’t stand up for myself they would go after me again.

“By making a stand I felt that I would be able to sort the issue out once and for all.”

Since his opponent was also much smaller than him, Henry said did not believe he would want to go through with the fight.

The final clash occurred near the school’s tennis courts, which had begun to fill up with spectators.

Mr Webster said he saw a group of Asians, and added: “They came into the tennis courts and started walking towards me and I remember thinking ‘well this wasn’t what I was expecting to happen’.

“As they walked up to me I said, ‘I don’t want to fight, I don’t want any trouble’. The next thing I remember is that someone hit me in the face and then someone hit me from behind.”

He had never bargained on getting involved in a fight with someone from outside the school, he said, having assumed that any clash would be a “one-on-one” fight with a fellow pupil.