‘Feral’ thugs jailed for battering ‘rap-off’ man
VICTIM WITH ASPERGER’S HAD HIS JAW BROKEN IN VICIOUS ATTACK
A ‘FERAL pack’ of thugs who viciously attacked a man in the Northern Quarter because his rapping impressed women clubbers have been jailed.
Ryan King, who has Asperger’s Syndrome, was left unconscious with a broken jaw after being beaten up by six men while celebrating his 25th birthday.
Minutes earlier Mr King and the men had been engaged in goodnatured chatting – which led to them challenging each other to a ‘rap-off.’
But when two women stopped to watch the competition the gang swarmed on him, punching, kicking and stamping on him until he lay helpless in a foetal position on the floor at Hilton Street, Manchester.
Now Arron Garner, 23, of Delamere Road, Urmston, Charlie Potts, 21, of Grove Lane, Timperley, Jack Callaghan, 21, of Parklands Road, Baguley, Leo Doyle, 24, of St Kilda’s Drive, Salford, and brothers Jamie and Joshua Wright, aged 21 and 23 respectively and of Downs Drive, Timperley, have been locked up by a judge who branded them a ‘feral pack.’
The men pleaded guilty to offences stemming from the violence after police released CCTV stills of them to the press.
Prosecutor Mark Kellet told Manchester Crown Court Mr King had been out celebrating his birthday on February 6, 2016 and encountered two groups of men when he left the Pen and Pencil bar on Hilton Street at around 2am.
“He started chatting with the groups in the street and started a rap-off, seeing who could rap the best,” said Mr Kellet.
After two girls stopped to watch the competition, Doyle punched Mr King in the head, prompting Mr King to retaliate with a punch of his own – but it landed on another of the group, James Wright and a sickening pack assault ensued, with the victim sent crashing to the pavement while kicks and punches rained down on his head. After viewing the CCTV, Judge Martin Rudland told the defendants: “It’s shocking to see a young man curled up in a ball on the streets of the city centre being attacked by a feral pack in the way you did.” Mr King, who sustained a double fracture to his jaw and still feels numbness two years on, said: “I have suffered more with my mental health than anything else.” Once a ‘social person,’ he now takes medication for anxiety, avoids contact with others, feels lonely and felt he had ‘reached rock bottom’ before his family stepped in to help. Garner was the first attacker to be identified – police found a bloodspattered trainer in his hallway. Now Garner, who has previous convictions for violence, and Potts, who were both seen on CCTV aiming kicks at the victim, have been jailed for five-and-a-half years and five years respectively after they Judge Martin Rudland admitted causing grievous bodily harm with intent.
Callaghan, Doyle and the Wright brothers were each jailed for two years after admitting violent disorder. Potts, an apprentice electrician who had no previous convictions and was said to come from a ‘decent family,’ had downed about ten pints that night and was left shocked at his own crime when he viewed the CCTV with his parents at the police station.
Garner, a builder who was addicted to cocaine, had also been drinking that night and was ‘thoroughly ashamed’ of his behaviour, according to his barrister Paul Becker. Doyle had been the ‘catalyst’ for the attack while Jamie Wright, who works for a truck dealership, had initially acted a peacemaker until he was punched by Mr King, which he at first thought was the result of a bottle being thrown at him, the court was told.
Joshua Wright, an apprentice with no previous convictions, admitted his behaviour has been ‘despicable.’
Callaghan, who has no previous convictions, was also said to have started as a peacemaker before turning on Mr King, the court heard.