A MAN who jumped another man from behind, dragged him across a pavement and kicked him on the ground has escaped a prison sentence.

Rob Galley, prosecuting, said the victim, who has previous convictions for violence, suffered head and neck injuries in the street attack in Bellhouse Way, Foxwood.

Judge Peter Kelson QC said when sentencing that he took into account an allegation that the victim had pulled a knife on attacker Davey Lee Burns two months earlier.

Burns, 33, of Dane Avenue, Acomb, pleaded guilty to causing actual bodily harm and was given a two-year community order with 100 hours' unpaid work.

He also has previous convictions for violence, including affray in 2007 when he received a 12-month community order.

Mr Galley told York Crown Court the victim in the latest attack was walking along the street last October in the afternoon when Burns attacked him from behind, punched and kicked him to the ground.

The victim shouted out: "Chill man, let me get up," but Burns grabbed his rucksack strap, dragged him across the street into a driveway and kicked and punched him again.

For Burns, Graham Parkin said he accepted the attack had been unprovoked.

He had been the victim of a stabbing when he was a teenager that had led to him having post traumatic stress disorder.

He also had psychiatric problems for which he had not been having the correct treatment because of mental health austerity cuts, said the solicitor advocate.

Two months before the attack, the victim had threatened him in the street with a small knife. Burns had reported the matter to police.

Mr Galley said that incident was not pursued by police because Burns declined to give a statement.

Mr Parkin handed in a letter from Burns' mother saying the person who stabbed him when he was a teenager received a three-year sentence.