Former Town player spared jail over brutal attack in pub

EX-TERRIER AND MANCHESTER UNITED STAR BATTERED ACQUAINTANCE DURING ROW ABOUT HIS TRAINERS

AN ex-Huddersfield Town player has avoided jail after brutally battering an acquaintance during a row over his white trainers.

Ronnie Wallwork, who played 16 times for the Terriers during a loan spell in 2007, left his victim with serious facial injuries after a sickening attack at a bar in Droylsden, Manchester.

The 43-year-old, who scored three times during his short time at the club, attacked the man alongside his friend David Garner who headbutted the victim to the ground.

Wallwork then threw a series of punches at the man during 25 seconds of horrific violence which was captured on the bar’s CCTV.

Manchester Crown Court heard that Wallwork and his eventual victim had been chatting in the bar on December 22, 2019. CCTV played to the court showed that, after an exchange, the pair square up to the victim and Garner headbutts him, sending him staggering backwards. The man then saw both defendants come towards him, Garner with his right fist raised and Wallwork managing to slip the grasp of a man trying to hold him back.

Wallwork punched the man before taking a few more swings and then landing three more punches, sending his victim crashing over a table.

Security moved in to remove Wallwork who appeared set on continuing the assault, said the prosecutor.

Garner was seen attacking another, unidentified man, kicking him and punching him before security also removed him from the bar.

The victim was taken to A&E at Tameside General Hospital where he was treated for facial injuries.

In a victim personal statement read out in court, the man said the incident had cost him £4,000 in lost wages while he said the attack had also affected him ‘emotionally.’ Wallwork was arrested five months later and told officers the man had been ‘mocking’ his clothes and that he had ‘felt threatened,’ the court was told. When Garner was arrested, he told officers his victim had threatened to stab him and Wallwork.

The court heard Wallwork had one caution for battery and two convictions covering four offences on his record. He served time in 2011 for receiving stolen goods.

Alex Longhorn, defending both men, referred to an incident in 2006 when Wallwork, then age 29 and playing for West Bromwich Albion, was stabbed in a Manchester city centre nightclub by a man who used to date his girlfriend at the time. The attack had had a ‘catastrophic’ effect on Wallwork’s football career and private life, the court was told.

Wallwork, he said, ‘wished he had walked away’ from the incident, and now wanted to be a ‘proper role model’ for his family. The attack had been ‘something more akin to a schoolyard incident,’ said Mr Langhorne.

Speaking about Mr Garner, Mr Langhorn said his client was ‘deeply remorseful for what he had done that night.’ The defendant accepted his behaviour had been ‘shameful.’

Judge Tina Landale described the attack the two men had launched as ‘brutal,’ saying it had had a ‘long lasting impact’ on their victim.

The judge said only a custodial sentence was justified but she went on that she was able to suspend the sentence, noting the attack had not been premeditated and that the pair had no ‘relevant’ previous convictions.

Wallwork was handed an 18-month suspended prison sentence and ordered to carry out 20 days of rehabilitation activity and 200 hours of unpaid work.

He was ordered to pay his victim £500 compensation.

Garner was also handed an 18-month suspended prison sentence and ordered to carry out 40 days of rehabilitation activity and pay his victim £1,000 compensation. He was also told to complete a nine-month alcohol treatment program.

Wallwork, of Densmore Street in Failsworth, and Garner, of Sparth Road in Newton Heath, had both pleaded guilty to GBH.