Nine months for thugs who attacked smoker

Two Perth men who violently attacked another man as he stood smoking outside a city centre pub were each jailed for nine months on Wednesday.

Perth Sheriff Court was told that victim Craig MacGregor was standing outside the Robert Burns lounge in the city’s County Place when he was set upon.

Thirty-four-year-old Kenneth Chalk, of Cairns Crescent, and Del Banks, (29), of Speygate, admitted assaulting the other man by kicking him on the body and repeatedly punching him on the head, to his injury, on July 15 last year.

Chalk also admitted a second charge of assaulting Alan Murie in a house at Perth’s Pringle Court on July 18 by throwing a candle at him and repeatedly punching him on the head.

The court was told that Mr MacGregor fell to the ground and the accused then ran off.

But the incident was captured on CCTV and both men were later traced.

The injured man was initially thought to have suffered a broken nose but a hospital examination showed it was badly bruised and swollen, according to depute fiscal Bill Kermode.

Solicitor David Holmes, for Chalk, said he had now stopped drinking to excess and taking cocaine after he started having hallucinations.

Lawyer Linda Clark said her client had inflicted just one punch.

Since his release from an earlier prison sentence, he had managed to obtain a full-time job and accommodation.

He had also kicked his drug habit and a background report indicated he was at a“turning point”in his life.

Chalk was jailed for a total of nine months, backdated to December 29, while Banks’sentence will run from January 15.

Both men admitted previous convictions.