Thug threw glass at man in pub attack
Victim could be scarred for life after aggressive yob hurled glass 8ft across room:
ADRUNKEN thug left another punter possibly scarred for life after throwing a glass in his face from eight feet away in an unprovoked Boxing Day attack in Runcorn.
Daniel Graham, 27, of Grange Park Avenue, was already ‘drunk’ at 8.45pm on December 26 at The Clarendon on Church Street when he began ‘interrupting’ a conversation between David Reid and a friend, prosecutor Nardeen Nemat told Chester Crown Court on Friday.
A member of the bar staff told Graham to go away because he was drunk, and Mr Reid wished him well for Christmas.
Graham dawdled, however, with Judge Patrick Thompson describing his demeanour as ‘aggressive’ and ‘truly nasty’, even coming close to clashing heads.
Watching CCTV shown to the court, Judge Thompson said: “He’s become very aggressive now, why should somebody have to put up with that in a pub enjoying a quiet drink?
“And there are a lot of people around.
“It was Boxing Day wasn’t it, and then this is the moment where he threw the glass from, what, eight feet, smashed straight into Mr Reid’s face.
“I don’t need to see any more.”
Mr Reid applied pressure to his head to try to stem the bleeding and was taken to Runcorn urgent care centre for X-rays and to have wound closure strips applied to seal three cuts above his left eyebrow and in the centre of his forehead.
He also suffered scratches.
Judge Thompson said: “The glass shattered on his forehead, it wasn’t even close above his eye.
“You can see one of the cuts extended down into the left eyebrow.
“They are described as superficial wounds but they are wounds that required Steri-Strips.
“It could have been so much worse.”
Judge Thompson added that there were ‘effectively three scars – two above the left eyebrow and one in the centre of the forehead’.
In a victim personal statement read to the court by Miss Nemat, Mr Reid said: “The morning after the incident as I brought myself to the mirror, I was shocked to see my face, it looked like cuts and scratches, I was shocked at seeing it and the thought of my kids seeing me like this at Christmas.”
He said he felt ‘anxious’ after the attack and added: “I can’t understand why someone would or could do this to me, and I now can’t stop thinking about it.
“The pain has been the worst pain, like an itching burning.
“This has been so bad I have to sleep on the sofa.”
Mr Reid also had to throw his bloodied top in the bin and has been told he ‘the scars will be permanent’.
Miss Nemat said Graham had two previous convictions for three offences, the last being aggressive behaviour causing fear of or provoking violence.
Jeremy Rawson, defending, said Graham should have credit for his guilty plea, entered at North Cheshire Magistrates’ Court on March 17, adding that his client has learning difficulties and ‘potential autism issues’.
He added Graham ‘works when he can’ and after receiving previous community orders has ‘completed these satisfactorily’.
Mr Rawson said his client was ‘remorseful’ and ‘disgusted’ with the attack.
Sentencing Graham to 14 months in prison, Judge Thompson said: “The whole incident was caught on CCTV, it’s a very shocking incident to see.
“It’s clear you were drunk – that’s not mitigation, that’s aggravation.
“You were very drunk, you were awkward, you were aggressive, you came up to Mr Reid and his companion who were simply standing in the pub, a busy pub, in a small area.”
Judge Thompson described how Graham’s behaviour was ‘garrulous, aggressive, drunken’ and said he was ‘getting right up in Mr Reid’s face’.
He added: “You got yourself so wound up over nothing.
“They’d done absolutely nothing to you.
“In a flash of temper, from around eight feet away, you threw a glass with some force straight at him straight in the face.”