Thug jailed after glassing victims in town bar brawl
22-year-old gets six years after smashing bottle that left man with permanant scar
DRUNKEN Matthew Prince glassed two people and left them with ‘deeply unpleasant’ injuries after a street brawl turned into serious violence.
Now the 22-year-old has been jailed for six years and nine months for leaving one of his victims with permanent facial scars and the other also needing hospital treatment.
Stoke-on-trent Crown Court heard that Prince and 22-year-old codefendant Daniel Tatters had been on a night out in Leek when the incident happened.
Several other revellers had encountered Tatters in the Society club, where they described him as ‘pestering girls.’
At around 3.30am, the group of friends had gone in search of food and were chatting in Sheepmarket when they became involved in an altercation with Prince and Tatters.
Prosecutor Steven Bailey said one of them challenged Tatters, who was ‘acting strangely and confrontational,’ and they chased him away. Several of them then went towards him.
At this point, Prince became involved and swung a punch, which missed. An 18-year-old who tried to intervene was kicked and fell to the floor face first.
“In very short order, Mr Prince smashed a bottle on the back of his head. There was a two-inch cut,” Mr Bailey told the court.
“Mr Prince then used the broken bottle to slash or push into his face or neck, which penetrated right through to the other side of his mouth. It was a very nasty cut, a four-inch long wound which needed 12 internal stitches.”
Friends of the teenager went to his aid and tried to stem the bleeding.
During the incident, the same man was punched to the head and kicked to the body by two other assailants. Mr Bailey said he was unable to confirm that one of them was Tatters.
But things didn’t end there. Another member of the group had also tried to intervene as the first victim came under attack. He lost his balance and fell to the ground.
Prince hit him to the side of his face with a second bottle. As the man came up, he was glassed again.
This second victim needed stitches to one of his wrists, neck and the back of an ear. “He had other cuts, bruising and swelling as well,” added Mr Bailey.
By then, a number of witnesses had called the police.
Prince and Tatters got into a Volkswagen Polo and were stopped by the police at around 4.30am. Prince – who had some injuries form the earlier incident – ran off, but was caught after a struggle.
Following their arrest, both defendants were picked out of identity parades. Prince’s DNA was also linked to the scene.
Prince, of Aveling Road, Sneyd Green, went on to plead guilty to two charges of wounding with intent and one of affray on June 22, 2019.
Stephen Rudge, representing him, said: “He is remorseful and contrite. He’s a very industrious young man who, up until this morning, was working.”
Tatters, of Ralph Drive, Sneyd Green, was jailed for eight months after admitting affray.
Jason Holt, mitigating, said one of the witnesses described how ‘everyone was going at each other.’ He added: “Mr Tatters accepts that he was engaged in unlawful violence.”
Sentencing the pair, Judge Paul Glenn told Prince: “These were deeply unpleasant injuries. You left one of them with permanent facial scarring.
“He describes how he has been affected physically, financially and psychologically.”