A 46-YEAR-OLD MAN has appeared in court in Britain charged with assault – pleading guilty to charges that he stormed around to a teenager’s house and throttled them, leaving red marks and scratches on his neck.

The incident occurred when the man, father-of-three Mark Bradford, became enraged when the 13-year-old – who lived nearby – killed his character in the video game Call of Duty: Black Ops.

Plymouth Magistrates Court heard that Bradford had to be pulled off the teenager by the child’s mother – and that Bradford simply walked away without explaining himself.

Prosecutors told the court that the teenager had goaded Bradford after killing his character during the multiplayer game. The two had been conversing over headsets while they played the PlayStation 3 game.

The Daily Mirror quotes the boy as saying: “I was just sat playing. We’d had a bit of a joke and then he stormed in and grabbed me. I didn’t know what was going on.”

His mother added:

If you can’t handle losing to a child you shouldn’t be playing game.

Bradford admitted assault and was freed on bail, pending sentencing on October 24.

“It wasn’t malice,” he told the Daily Mail. I just grabbed him. I’ve seen him since and apologised. The injuries weren’t that bad but I do regret it,” he said.

The court was told that Bradford, who is unemployed, has a history of mental health problems.