Man was kicked in head by mum to be
AWOMAN kicked a man in the head as he lay defenceless on the ground after calling her a “slag”.
May Hartley and Jack Pye stood trial accused of attacking Jack Marshall and Carlos Sherran on a night out in Southport.
Liverpool Crown Court heard an argument broke out at Concept Food Bar, in Scarisbrick Avenue, after Mr Marshall insulted Hartley.
Mr Marshall admitted to a jury that he told the 20-year-old to “shut up” and called her a “slag”, at around 3am on April 7 last year.
Her work colleague Pye, 20, followed Mr Marshall outside to Lord Street, where CCTV cameras captured Pye pushing and punching him.
Nick Cockrell, prosecuting, said Hartley joined in and, when Mr Marshall fell, Pye kept punching him and she kicked him in the head.
The court heard Mr Sherran then aimed two kicks at Pye, one of which connected, before Pye and Hartley started punching him.
As Pye and Mr Sherran moved away, throwing punches at each other, Hartley walked back over to the helpless Mr Marshall.
Hartley, of Carr Lane, Birkdale, near Southport, kicked him twice in the back before she and Pye, of Hoghton Street, Southport, left.
The pair argued they acted in self-defence, but were found guilty of assault causing actual bodily harm.
However, they were cleared of common assault against Mr Sherran, after the jury accepted that they acted in selfdefence. Mr Marshall said he was left with the corner of his lip “hanging off”, black eyes, bumps and bruises.
Tom Watson, defending Hartley, urged the judge to spare her jail and said she was pregnant, with the baby due in October.
He said she expressed remorse and had tried to make changes to her life.
Mark Phillips, defending Pye, asked the judge to “draw back” from jailing his client, who was deemed a “low risk of reconviction”.
Judge Anil Murray said Mr Marshall was “very rude” to Hartley, but when he and his friend left “that should have been the end of it”. He said Pye pursued him and pulled him back and that the pair claimed the violence that followed was in self-defence.
However, the judge said CCTV footage showed otherwise, as Pye pushed Mr Marshall as he was moving backwards, then punched him.
The judge handed them both nine months in prison, suspended for two years, 150 hours of unpaid work and £700 court costs.