An ex-soldier who was flirting with a barmaid in a pub ended up glassing another customer before hitting him with a bar stool.
Photographs of the victim looked like something out of a horror movie, a crown court judge said today.
Victim Anthony Morris was left with wounds to the face, particularly the nose, but was lucky he had not been blinded, Mold Crown Court was told.
The judge, Mr Recorder Huw Rees, jailed former soldier Paul Jones, 36, of Bryn Garth,Denbigh , for three years and four months after he admitted a charge of wounding with intent to cause GBH.
“I have seen photographs of the injuries. The bleeding wounds are nothing short of reminiscent of a scene from a horror movie,” he told Jones.
The judge said that if Jones had not seen the photographs then he should.
Jones was said to have been flirting with a bar maid at The Plough public house on Friday in April.
Mr Morris commented that she was a bit young for him.
In temper, the struck Mr Morris to the face with his pint glass, explained prosecutor Emmalyne Downing.
When the victim went to the floor, Jones picked up a stool, held it above his shoulders and struck him with it.
The victim had told how he would need cosmetic treatment because of the scars on his nose and face.
Mr Recorder Rees told Jones that the offence he had admitted did not come any more serious save for manslaughter or murder.
The victim was a stranger to him and when he said relatively politely “she’s a bit young for you”, referring to the barmaid, he should have left it there.
“But you lost your temper and struck him to the face with a pint glass, causing multiple lacerations to his face, particularly to his nose.
“You struck him with a bar stool and picked up a bar table and tried to use that against him,” said the Recorder, after viewing an in-pub CCTV film of the incident.
'Could have lost sight'
To his considerable credit he made admissions in his second interview and expressed regret and shame.
While it was very serious, it was not as serious as it could have been. “He could have lost his sight,” the judge said.
In a victim impact statement, Mr Morris had been affected emotionally by the attack – he suffered from anxiety and panic attacks – and also physically.
He was conscious of the scarring from the multiple cuts to his face, felt he would need cosmetic treatment and said that he was lucky that the glass had not damaged “his good eye”.
The court heard that his eyes had been cleared and there was no glass or debris in them.
He had a blood shot right eye and his left eye had cornea abrasions.
His left shoulder was in such pain after being struck with the stool that he feared it had been broken.
Jones had a previous conviction for affray in 2010 when he became violent towards other customers in a pub.
Defending barrister Simon Killeen said that Jones had spent five years in the armed forced, went AWOL and was dismissed.
He suffered from depression, felt abandoned as a child and was deeply affected that when he traced his father, he did not want to know him.
For full story see - http://www.dailypost.co.uk/news/north-wales-news/denbigh-ex-soldiers-plough-pub-10332903
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