Store guard hit shopper 29 times in pastries row
A SECURITY guard at a shop in Piccadilly Gardens punched a man 29 times in the head and face after a row over two pastries.
John Campbell is now starting a four-and-a-half year jail sentence after admitting a further assault on the same man an hour later.
Three other men involved in the second attack received suspended prison sentences.
On August 16 last year, Campbell removed the man from the Spar shop after he refused to pay for the pastries, which had been dropped.
The man remained outside the shop and then spat at Campbell, who punched him to the ground, then struck him 29 times.
The police were called but the victim, 30, did not co-operate and was removed from the area.
But he returned about an hour later.
He was seen walking towards the shop with what Campbell and other security guards thought was a broken bottle.
Another verbal altercation took place between the man and Campbell and he was prevented from entering the store.
Campbell was assisted by security guards, Adam Browne and Robert Campion, and Said Hassan, who they had been chatting to.
But as the man was retreating across the road Browne used an extendable baton to strike him.
The three security guards and Hassan then assaulted the victim while he was on the ground, punching and kicking him, and using objects such as shopping baskets as weapons.
The victim was then dragged across the road by the hair and further attacked. The victim received hospital treatment for lacerations, bruises and injuries – including an open fracture to his right leg.
At Manchester Crown Court Campbell, 39, of Wishaw Square, Chorlton, was jailed for four and a half years after pleading guilty to section 18 assault.
Campion, 44, of Lawton Moor Road, Manchester, received an 18-month sentence, suspended for two years, after pleading guilty for section 20 assault.
Browne, 24, of Lawton Moor Road, Manchester, received an 18-month sentence for section 20 assault and six months for possession of an offensive weapon after pleading guilty to both offences. Both sentences were suspended for two years.
At an earlier hearing Hassan , 26, of Perkins Avenue, Salford, was found guilty of possession of an offensive weapon and was sentenced to 12 months in jail, suspended for two years.
Detective Constable James Donnelly said: “This disgraceful behaviour was completely unnecessary and unacceptable and the city of Manchester has no place for such offending.”