A furious father grabbed a teacher by the throat after bursting into a school to complain his step-daughter was being bullied, a court heard.

Violence broke out in the reception of Patcham High School in Brighton after Simon Morton stormed in and demanded staff take action to stop the bullying, Lewes Crown Court was told.

Morton, 38, is accused of barging into the head's office before ending up in a scuffle in the school reception where he egged-on his step-daughter to fight another girl in front of teachers.

He is accused of attacking staff who stepped in to break up the fight between the pupils.

The violence erupted as many of the school's 1,000 pupils poured into the main reception as they left classrooms at lunchtime, the court heard.

Morton, of Ghyllside, Brighton, is alleged to have grabbed assistant headteacher Colin Ashdown, 58, around the throat and pushed Stephanie Brotherstone, also an assistant head, who was knocked unconscious when she fell to the ground.

Morton denied assaulting Ms Brotherstone causing her actual bodily harm.

The jury was told he admitted committing a common assault on Mr Ashdown.

Elizabeth Fletcher, head of the school at the time of the incident on February 25, told the court how Morton, who was angry and shouting, barged into her office without warning. He demanded she deal with his step-daughter's complaint and rang the police on his mobile phone.

Ms Fletcher said the girl had not reported her complaint about bullying that day but the school was aware of a history of problems between the girl and other students, including occasions when she had been the bully.

The court heard that Ms Fletcher told Morton, who was with the girl and her mother, the allegations could not be immediately investigated by her because she was going to a funeral.

Morton insisted he would take his step-daughter, her sister and her cousin out of the school.

But the court was told that as they waited in the main reception, which was busy with students leaving classrooms at lunchtime, violence broke out.

Ms Fletcher said she heard Morton shout out to his step-daughter: "Go on get her."

She said the step-daughter launched herself at another girl as Morton and his partner goaded her on.

She said: "They were encouraging the fight to go ahead. They attempted to prevent me and others from breaking up this terrible incident.

"There was a lot of shouting, screaming and hair-pulling and a lot of distress."

She said as Mr Ashdown tried to split up the girls, Morton grabbed the English teacher around the throat. She said: "I tried to prise his fingers from his throat because Mr Ashdown was going red and spluttering."

Ms Fletcher said she suddenly noticed another member of staff, Ms Brotherstone, collapsed on the floor. She said: "It was the most unpleasant incident I have ever witnessed in 16 years of headship."

She said the step-daughter was withdrawn from the school after the incident.

Ms Brotherstone told the jury Morton grabbed her when she tried to stop the fight. She said: "He flung me out of the way. It was absolutely not an accident."

She hit a wall and was knocked out.

The jury was shown a CCTV film of the incident and saw Ms Brotherstone land on the ground. She suffered concussion and whiplash, as well as back and knee injuries.

She said: "It was shocking to see parents want their child to attack another child."

The trial continues.