Former Scots Guard in drunken attack
JON MACPHERSON
ADISGRACED soldier who viciously attacked a man with mental health issues using a piece of wood has been jailed.
Joseph David Arnfield, of Barnes Street in Accrington, drank ‘half a bottle of vodka in less than one hour’ before storming round to Stefan Golec’s flat.
Prolific offender Arnfield, 25, formerly of the Scots Guards, pleaded guilty at Preston Crown court to ABH and was jailed for 12 months.
Robert Wyn Jones, prosecuting, told the court how the incident happened at around 7.20pm on April 28 this year.
He said an ‘ angry and annoyed’ Arnfield approached Mr Golec’s girlfriend in the street shortly before the incident and told her that ‘he was going to get him [Mr Golec]’.
When the girlfriend saw Arnfield walk towards Mr Golec’s address in Blackburn she made a warning call to him and also contacted the police for help.
Mr Wyn Jones said Mr Golec heard banging on a door and when Arnfield walked upstairs towards his flat he ‘feared for his safety’ and grabbed a hammer from his bedroom.
The court heard how Mr Golec stepped out onto the landing and saw Arnfield armed with a ‘piece of wood ‘carried on misbehaving’ by kicking and headbutting the cell walls.
Mr Wyn Jones said both Mr Golec and his girlfriend ‘were very distressed as a result of what happened’.
Judge Simon Newell said the attack on Mr Golec had ‘exacerbated pre-existing mental health issues’ and the victim needed to attend a psychiatric hospital for two months.
The Judge told Arnfield that he had ‘no alternative but to impose an immediate custodial sentence’.
Defence barrister Clare Thomas said Arnfield is ‘thoroughly ashamed of his behaviour’.
She told the court: “He had drunk half a bottle of vodka in about one hour before this offence. When he drinks he behaves appallingly.
“He drinks once or twice a week but binge drinks and does it to excess. He wishes to address that.”
Miss Thomas told the court that Arnfield, who has 17 convictions for 27 previous offences, served in the Army for two years before being dishonourably discharged.
She said: “He joined immediately after leaving school. He didn’t leave of his own volition but was dishonourably discharged because he failed a drugs test for cannabis.
“Being in the army was something he always wanted to do, he did well at it and enjoyed it.
“Since then it appears he has drifted along, committed offences, struggled to find work and doesn’t have any real direction.”
The court heard that Arnfield is looking to reapply to join the army upon his release from prison after a change of policy was introduced allowing dishonourably discharged soldiers to reenlist.
Miss Thomas said he is now doing ‘everything he can to better his position’.