Stay-at-home dad hit man with a pole
ATTACKER SPOTTED BY A CCTV OPERATOR
A DRIFFIELD dad attacked another with a metal bar as he walked down the street.
Robert Taylor, 43, of Eastfield Road, set upon the man just before 9pm on July 16 this year.
Taylor was spotted on CCTV by a Bridlington Civic closed circuit officer walking in Lansdowne Road, Bridlington, with the metal bar in his hands.
The officer, who recognised Taylor alerted the police, Hull Crown Court heard on Friday.
Prosecuting, Charlotte Baines told the court: “The civic operator continued to monitor him and saw him strike another man with the bar.
“He was last seen walking along
Blackburn Avenue. A police officer went to the scene and spoke to the man who had been hit and saw he had cuts to his cheek and he was bleeding.”
Taylor was soon arrested and charged with assault occasioning actual bodily harm and possession of an offensive weapon.
CCTV footage shown to the court showed Taylor hiding the metal bar in his trousers, taking it out to hit the man as he walked down the street.
Ms Baines told the court: “He was interviewed and during the course of that interview he responded with ‘no comment’.
“However, after discussions with the defendant in terms of trying to find out what it was about, officers asked if what was seen on CCTV was the beginning or the end, he said, ‘The end but no comment’.”
Ms Baines told the court that the crime risked “serious disorder” as there was a number of people in the street when the attack happened.
She said Taylor has 42 previous convictions for 79 offences including shop theft and public order offences.
Catherine Kioko-gilligan, mitigating, told the court that although Taylor has previous convictions, none were for violent offences.
She said: “This is not a man who would usually act in this way. This offence is out of character. He has been out of trouble for several years and was last before the courts in 2016.
“It is clear there is a background to this incident. It is clear he [Taylor] was under the influence of drink, which caused him to act in a way that he regrets and he is disappointed in himself.
“What has happened since the last time he was here is that he has turned his life around. He had a long-standing addiction to class A drugs, but he has been clean since 2010. The turning point for him was his relationship with his current partner and the birth of their daughter who is now four years old.”
Ms Kioko-gilligan said Taylor is a stay-at-home dad and a custodial sentence would have an effect on the care of his young daughter.
Recorder Algazy QC spared Taylor an immediate custodial sentence, instead handing him a six-month sentence, suspended for 18 months.
The judge said: “If you commit any offence during that time you will be brought back to the court and sent to prison.”
Taylor has also been ordered to undertake 30 days of rehabilitation.