A MAN who carried out a midnight vigilante attack on an alleged child abuser has been sentenced.

Lee Michael Paul McNally threatened to kill the other man, who was awaiting trial on allegations of sexual activity with two girls.

McNally was the only one who ended up with a criminal conviction when The case against the alleged child abuser was dropped but McNally was given an eight-month prison sentence, suspended for two years on condition he did 160 hours' unpaid work and paid £300 compensation to the victim for breaking his door.

Judge Rodney Jameson QC told McNally: "He is entitled to the protection of the law as much as any other man. To go into another man's house at midnight, kick in his door and assault him as you did is a serious and unacceptable matter. It must inevitably result in a custodial sentence."

The attack was carried out more than a year ago, but details could not be reported until after the trial of the alleged child abuser.

This week, the Crown Prosecution Service offered no evidence against him and he was formally acquitted. He had denied the charges against him.

Richard Canning, prosecuting, told York Crown Court that after McNally, 47, heard about the allegations, he smashed down the man's door, threatened to kill him and punched him in the head.

Painter and decorator McNally, of Water Lane, Clifton, pleaded guilty to criminal damage and causing actual bodily harm and was sentenced in December.

His barrister Glenn Parsons said he was a hard-working man but acted the way he had in "abnormal circumstances".

Mr Canning said the other man was alone at home when McNally arrived just before midnight in July 2014. The painter called him a "paedophile" and threatened to kill him, then broke into the house by kicking in the bottom of the door and breaking it off its frame.

The man managed to stay on his feet as he was punched twice on the head and managed to force McNally, who was repeating his insult and death threat, backwards before pushing him out of his home, causing minor injuries.