A DAUGHTER feared for her life when she intervened in a confrontation between two modern-day "legionaries", a court heard.

Claire Harris alleged that Keith Andrew Mulhearn, who had a Roman helmet in his raised hand, had threatened to kill her father, Graham Harris. Both men belonged to the Roman re-enactment society Lost Legion.

"It was the bravest thing I have ever seen," former travel agent Mr Harris alleged at York Crown Court. "She stepped between us and said You are not going to touch my father'. Unbelievable."

He said the helmet "was heavy enough to take a man's head off if you hit him with it."

Miss Harris claimed: "I thought he (Mulhearn) was going to kill me. He seemed to stare at me for what seemed like an eternity."

Instead, he dropped the helmet and left the museum with a sword he picked up.

The confrontation occurred at the Roman Museum under the Roman Bath pub, where Mr Harris had taken over the management from Mulhearn.

Moments before, alleged Miss Harris, Mulhearn had pulled her arm off a handrail as she tried to block his path to her father, spun her round and forced it up her back so forcefully she sprained her wrist and pulled muscles in her shoulder and neck. She claimed she was off work for four months.

Mulhearn, 40, of Fossway, York, denies causing actual bodily harm and affray.

The trial continues.