BARBER Gary Hatto was today found guilty of assaulting fellow hairdresser Mike Harford after a row over a comb.

Hatto, 48, of Wildcross House, South Wraxall had pleaded not guilty to assault by beating his former employee Mr Harford at his home in Brickley Lane, Devizes, on June 22, 2014.

But Chippenham magistrates found him guilty and remanded him on conditional bail for sentencing at Swindon magistrates on June 15.

Hatto, who has four previous convictions for violence, admitted to sending Mr Harford, 36, disgusting, shameful and embarrassing texts the night before turning up on his doorstep but claimed he had not started the fight.

From the witness box he said he had felt ashamed of the texts he had sent after drinking a lot of alcohol and had gone to Mr Harford's home the next morning to apologise.

At the time of sending the texts he thought Mr Harford had been responsible for refusing to lend one of his apprentices a specialist flat top comb.

During the text exchange he was told Mr Harford was away from the shop looking after his children as his wife was on a hen weekend but the abusive texts kept on arriving.

One of them said: "You are a disgraceful little man laughing at my expense."

Mr Harford, who started his career as an apprentice for Hatto in Devizes but fell out with him 11 years later when he wanted to start his own barber shop, told the court that he was still looking after his three young children on his own when Hatto turned up on his doorstep on the Sunday morning and became violent.

Nick Barr, prosecuting, told the court: "Mr Harford asked him to leave as he had his three young children inside. But Mr Hatto became angry and five or six times punched him to the head.

"Mr Harford got him a headlock to try and stop the punches and they fell to the ground. Hatto then bit him on the thumb causing excruciating pain."

The two men remained locked together on the ground in the front garden of the house until Hatto's employee Yvonne Tallis, who had been sitting outside the house in a van, came and tried to split them up.

Eventually Hatto stopped biting Mr Harford's thumb and he left the garden. Afterwards Mr Harford was taken to Chippenham hospital and was treated for injuries to his face and thumb.

Miss Tallis, who was called as a witness for the defence, said they were travelling to Hatto's shop in Marlborough and he decided to stop at Mr Harford's house so he could apologise for the texts.

She said Hatto knocked on the door but then stepped back about two metres and it was Mr Harford who launched himself at Hatto and tried to strangle him. They both fell to the ground.

But the magistrates said they believed Mr Harford's version of events and found Hatto guilty.