Innocent reveller floored by doorman
BOUNCER SPARED JAIL AFTER HIS ONE-PUNCH ATTACK
A NIGHTCLUB doorman broke a reveller’s jaw when he floored him in the street with a one-punch attack.
Lloyd Walton, pictured below, was on duty as a supervisor outside the Deep venue, in Whitley Bay, when he wrongly believed the victim was involved in a fight.
Ryan Armstrong was, in fact, backing away from the fracas but was sent flying to the ground when he was punched to the head by the bouncer, a court was told.
The victim was seen lying on the street after the attack before being taken home by friends.
Newcastle Crown Court heard that Mr Armstrong had no recollection of the assault or the hours after until waking up in pain at his house.
He was taken to hospital and found to have suffered a fracture to the left side of his jaw, which doctors initially thought needed surgery but actually healed without an operation.
Police viewed CCTV and Walton was identified as the attacker.
Now, he has narrowly avoided jail after pleading guilty to one count of grievous bodily harm at Newcastle Crown Court.
During a hearing at the city’s Moot Hall, which Walton attended just a couple of hours after the birth of his first child, prosecutor Kevin Wardlaw said an altercation had broken out outside Deep in the early hours of May 29 last year.
He said CCTV captured the moment Mr Armstrong was talking to another doorman to the side of the fracas when Walton waded in and landed the blow.
“The complainant is talking to another doorman and the defendant comes in from the side and effectively thumps him,” Mr Wardlaw said.
The prosecutor added: “The defendant was later identified by CCTV footage being viewed.
“He was arrested and interviewed and declined to make any comment.”
The court was told Walton had no past convictions and had behaved out of character.
Tony Davis, defending, said Walton had been working two jobs at the time but had now lost his doorman licence.
He said: “He did, at the time, feel in the middle of a very fast-moving situation and the situation was escalating and getting out of control. He did what he thought as necessary, which was a single blow, which, regrettably, had the consequences it had.”
Giving him a 12-month prison sentence, suspended for two years, and ordering him to pay £750 compensation, Recorder Toby Hedworth QC told Walton: “You thumped a man and you have to answer for that.”
Walton was also ordered to do 80 hours of unpaid work.