A shamed former mayor has apologised to a couple he brawled with in a row over bikes and a beach hut.

East Sussex county councillor David Neighbour has been dubbed "the battling councillor" by colleagues after his scuffle with Nigel and Tanya Heasman on Saltdean seafront last August.

He was given a two-year conditional discharge and ordered to pay £720 costs after pleading guilty to affray at Hove Crown Court yesterday.

Liberal Democrat colleagues have offered support but he could still be disciplined by his party.

Neighbour has been a mayor of Telscombe three times.

He represents Telscombe Cliffs on Lewes District Council, Telscombe on the county council and is a former headteacher and social worker.

Walton Hornsby, prosecuting, said Neighbour was the occupier of one of the beach huts in Undercliff Walk and had placed pedal cycles against a nearby hut used by Mr and Mrs Heasman.

They were worried the bikes could topple and injure their children, who were playing nearby.

Mr Hornsby said: "This became a bone of contention and it was in relation to this that an argument arose which then became an altercation and then the fight which is the subject of this case."

He said Neighbour, 59, of Central Avenue, Telscombe Cliffs, accepted he had grabbed Mrs Heasman by the arms, prompting her husband to challenge him.

Mr Heasman, from Saltdean, needed five stitches to his ear after the fight, which was witnessed by the couple's two young children and other families in Undercliff Walk.

Neighbour was arrested later that day.

Mr Hornsby said: "He accepts this would have been a disturbing incident for them to witness.

"The defendant was arrested and told police he had acted in self-defence.

"When interviewed he said, 'I hit him after he had hit me three times. I am just more efficient'."

Nigel Daniel, defending, said: "This defendant has asked me, with everyone present in court, to make a heartfelt apology for the incident.

"He is a man with a lifetime of public service as a social worker, a headteacher and who has served for many years on a number of local authorities and councils doing valuable work for the community.

"He is a man of poor health, with a heart condition, who the weekend before the incident was readmitted to hospital.

"As a result of that his medication had been changed the day before this incident.

"He was faced with the situation where the argument over the placement of the pushbikes escalated.

"He accepts that the real catalyst for this incident was him taking hold of Tanya Heasman's arms."

Mr Daniel said Neighbour had not taken his seat at council meetings since the incident because he did not want his actions to reflect badly on his colleagues.

This stopped the £10,000 a year he received in council allowances, which formed his only income.

Brighton and Hove City Council, which owns the beach huts, had asked Neighbour and his wife to leave theirs since the incident.

Judge Anthony Scott-Gall told Neighbour: "You behaved very badly in the presence of children but it is very clear to me that this was quite out of character."

Neighbour approached the Heasmans as he left the dock and apologised before joining his family and supporters outside.

Neighbour told The Argus: "I have apologised to the Heasmans but they were not blameless in all of this and I maintain I was defending myself after I was assaulted."

"I have become known as the battling councillor as a result of this incident and it is a label I now very much want to get rid of."

Marina Pepper, a fellow Lewes district councillor for the Liberal Democrats, said: "He has the full support of his colleagues in the party because of the wonderful support and work that he has given to the community over the years."

David Rogers, leader of the Lib Dem group on the county council, said he did not want to comment until he had held further discussions with Neighbour.

Mr Heasman also declined to comment.