Thugs attacked man for refusing to go to the bar

VICTIM WAS HAVING QUIET DRINK WITH WIFE AS PAIR TARGETED HIM

THESE two thugs battered an innocent man unconscious in a city centre pub because he refused to order them a drink after they were turned away from the bar for being too intoxicated.

Daniel Barrass and Callum McCall were in the Percy Arms, on Percy Street, Newcastle, when a barman refused to serve them due to the fact they appeared too inebriated.

They asked a man who was out having a quiet drink with his wife and friends if he would go to the bar for them if they gave him the money and he said no. The pair then waited for him to go upstairs to the toilet, followed him and ended up attacking him.

CCTV footage shows Barrass adopting a boxing stance and punching the man while McCall, by now barechested, joined in the attack from behind. The victim was left briefly unconscious and suffered a fracture to his face during the attack on June 18.

Now Barrass and McCall have both been jailed at Newcastle Crown Court after they admitted inflicting grievous bodily harm.

Judge Jeremy Freedman told the pair: “The complainant and his wife went for a quiet drink at the Percy Arms at the Haymarket.

“It was not to continue as a quiet drink for him as you two entered that pub in an inebriated state - it was evident you were heavily intoxicated.

“The barman, quite rightly, refused to serve you a drink and you sought to get around that by asking the complainant to buy you drinks on your behalf, giving him money to do so. Very sensibly he declined.”

At that point Barrass and McCall went out of a fire exit and loitered in an alley, which afforded them a view back into the pub.

When they saw the victim going upstairs to the toilet, they followed him.

CCTV does not cover inside the toilets so it is unknown exactly what happened in there. But Barrass came out backwards and footage shows him adopting a boxer’s stance and attacking the man, while McCall joins in from behind. Judge Freedman said: “You punched him with such force he was knocked unconscious and fell to the ground and the attack continued.

“It was an unprovoked and sustained attack on a man doing no more than having a drink in a pub with his wife and visiting the toilets at the time.

“I reject the notion you were acting in self-defence. It may not have lasted very long but it will have been a terrifying incident for him and he sustained a significant injury.”

Barrass, 28, of Delaval Crescent, Newsham, Blyth, and McCall, 26, of Longmeadow, Bedlington, both admitted GBH. Barrass, who has 32 previous convictions, was jailed for 18 months.

McCall, who has 67 previous convictions and was in breach of a two-year suspended sentence for wounding a homeowner who challenged him while he was stealing bikes from a shed, was jailed for a total of two-and-a-half years. Kate Barnes, for Barrass, said: “The pre-sentence report and references speak of a person very different to the one depicted by this offending.”

Miss Barnes claimed they had followed the victim to the toilet to renew their request for him to buy them a drink and said “they were not looking for trouble”.

Jonathan Pigford, for McCall, said: “He is disappointed by his behaviour.

“He had no gripe with the complainant. Something happened in those toilets which there’s no further information about.”