TWO brothers who launched an unprovoked attack on a stranger they started hugging after leaving a Warrington bar have both been put behind bars.
CCTV footage captured Lee Jones and Michael Jones approaching their victim as he stood by the head of an alleyway near the Reef Bar having a cigarette in the early hours of October 27 last year.
Liverpool Crown Court heard that the two men seemed to have an amicable discussion with the man, 60-year-old Geoffrey Davies for a few minutes.
The defendants were seem hugging him and repeatedly putting their arms around him but “shortly afterwards, for no apparent reason the two of you attacked him, repeatedly punching him to the face until he fell to the ground,” said the judge, Recorder David Knifton, KC.
“It was suggested by each of you at some stage that there had been some degree of provocation on his part. Having carefully studied the footage I can see nothing to indicate he was anyway aggressive towards the two of you,” he added.
Mr Davies suffered multiple fractures to his jaw, which was displaced, and he lost some teeth and his nose was broken. He also suffered a perforated ear drum and some concussion.
He had a healing cut above his left eye but the wound was opened up in the attack and he needed 17 stitches to close it. During the four days he was detained in hospital he had to undergo a number of operations to insert a titanium plate and screws in his smashed jaw, said Iain Criddle, prosecuting.
In an impact statement Mr Davies said that as well as the physical injuries he had been left feeling vulnerable and scared to go out, particularly in Warrington town centre.
Lee Jones, aged 37 of Fildes Close, Great Sankey and Michael Jones, 42, of Winstanley Close, Great Sankey, both pleaded guilty to causing grievous bodily harm.
Recorder Knifton jailed them both for 20 months .
Jeremy Rawson, defending, said that Michael Jones has an 11-year-old child and while he is currently living apart from his partner he is hoping to resume co-habitation soon.
Jones, who has five previous convictions for 10 offences including violence had been out of trouble for 13 years and was remorseful and regretted his behaviour, he said.
He worked as an electrician for the railways and his public spirited side was demonstrated body the fact that he gave CPR to a man who collapsed in the street, helping to keep him alive, added Mr Rawson.
Defence barrister Sarah Griffin said that Lee Jones, who also worked as an electrician, has given up alcohol as he “recognises this has been his demon.
“He is genuinely remorseful and upset and says no one deserves to be treated in this way and wishes he had come off injured and not the complainant.”
He has six previous convictions for 13 offences including assaulting a former partner in 2019 but she was in the public gallery supporting him and he plays a key role in the life of their seven-year-old daughter.
