Drug user spared jail after trying to attack his barber with hammer

A MAN left a dent in the wall of a barber shop after trying to attack the owner with a hammer as a horrified family looked on.

Neil Evans had taken prescription medication, as well as abusing alcohol and illegal drugs, at the time of the incident one morning in a town centre.

Sentencing him at Cardiff Crown Court Judge Jeremy Jenkins noted a psychiatric report found he was “grossly psychotic” at the time.

The court heard the incident happened at a barber shop in the High Street in Fleur-de-Lis, Caerphilly, at around 9.30am on September 1 last year.

Oliver Harris, prosecuting, said Evans was a “regular” there and owner Owain Gulliford knew him. The owner noticed Evans appeared agitated, as he was swearing a lot, and he could smell alcohol on his breath.

Prosecutors said the defendant asked to take a chair outside and shortly afterwards shouted: “You want to f ****** laugh at me, do you?”

The court heard there was another customer inside with two young children aged three and eight.

Mr Harris said: “Evans was standing in front of him [Mr Gulliford], his right arm raised with a hammer.”

The victim managed to deflect the blow and hammer hit the wall, leaving a dent.

Prosecutors said Mr Gulliford took Evans into the street outside and asked him not to come back.

The defendant was interviewed by police three days later and said he could not remember anything. In a victim personal statement read out in court, Mr Gulliford said he felt “shocked” and “upset”.

He added he had a young family and feared he could have been seriously hurt in the incident.

Prosecutors said Evans had been before the courts for 13 previous offences including assault occasioning actual bodily harm, criminal damage and public disorder.

Evans, 45, from Woodfield Terrace in Tir-y-Berth, Caerphilly, admitted affray. Evans was given an eightmonth jail term, suspended for 18 months.

The judge also imposed an 18-month community order requiring him to complete 60 days of a rehabilitation activity.