“Take responsibility for your life and man up,” magistrates told a 22-year-old who battered a shop worker with a shoe and flaunted a dispersal order during Cowes Week.

Liam Matthews, of Spinnaker Close, Cowes, attended the Isle of Wight Magistrates’ Court on April 12 after previously pleading guilty to assault by beating and failing to comply with a section 35 direction – excluding him from Cowes Town Centre.

Lauren Stone, prosecuting, said the 22-year-old entered Mellish’s on Ryde High Street with a group of young men at 4.15pm on March 13 last year.

Ms Stone told the court a shop worker suspected the group had stolen items and concealed them in their jackets.

The shop worker took hold of Matthews and, amid a scuffle, the victim was hit with an item from the shelves and a shoe, the court heard.

Ms Stone said CCTV showed Matthews striking out several times, with the shop worker suffering a swollen knee for ten days.

Matthews initially pleaded not guilty and claimed self-defence but changed his plea on his trial date.

On August 2, during Cowes Week, Matthews was made subject to a 24-hour section 35 dispersal order after he refused to provide his details to police and was verbally abusive, said Ms Stone.

The court heard that at 9pm the same day, police saw Matthews walking through the town centre and into the British Legion Social Club.

Ms Stone told the court Mathews was arrested by police in the smoking area.

Barry Keel, defending, said his client’s last conviction was in 2019 when he was a youth.

Mr Keel said Matthews was not stealing from Mellish’s and retaliated after he was grabbed, and insisted it was the ‘other lads’ who caused injuries to the shop worker.

Matthews does not remember hitting the victim with a shoe, the court heard.

When handed the section 35 order, Matthews felt aggrieved that he had been singled out and drank excessively that evening, said Mr Keel.

Magistrates told Matthews: “You should be embarrassed of yourself. Take responsibility for your life and man up.”

Matthews was handed a 12-month community order, to include 100 hours unpaid work, and must pay £310 in costs, a £150 fine and a £114 surcharge.