A WARRINGTON man has been left with severe brain injuries following a violent drunken attack in the town centre.
Alex James was left with a blood clot on his brain and now has memory and spatial awareness problems – thanks to a single blow from Liam Woods.
Woods, 20, from Marina Avenue Great Sankey, pleaded guilty at
Warrington Crown Court to causing grievous bodily harm.
The court heard how Woods had punched Mr James in the street, causing him to fall and hit his head on the pavement.
Woods was sentenced to 16-months in a young offender’s institution.
Merion Lewis-Jones, prosecuting, said Mr James was with a group of friends in a Bridge Street bar watching a boxing match when friends of Woods’ began shouting abuse at them.
After the boxing had finished, Mr James and his friends walked into the street where they encountered Woods’ group again and there was more verbal abuse. Mr James tried to calm the situation – but Woods punched him once and ran off.
Mr James fell, striking his head on the kerb, and was knocked unconscious.
He spent eight days in hospital after having the blood clot on his brain removed.
He is now under the supervision by the brain injury team and it was possible his brain problems might never be resolved.
Omraam Bader, defending, said Woods was a man of previous good character who had shown sincere remorse since the incident. He had not intended to cause such severe injuries.
Woods had himself been assaulted in the bar and had only punched Mr James because he feared being attacked himself.
Judge David Hale told the defendant: “The fact is you caused Alex a very serious injury – one that is going to have a substantial affect on him for the rest of his life. All you had to do was walk away – but like so many in Warrington town centre at night, you didn’t.”
3 Comments
absaloute crap this story…i was a friend with mr woods this night and the story does not represent the night.. where is the part regarding one of there group been charged for assult ?
no justice at all there are alot worse people in warrington on a friday and saterday then liam.
the above article is a complete joke. it bears no resemberlance to the true events of that night.
i was one of liams ‘group’ that night and this article has missed out a few very important points. funnily enough it fails to mention that liam was assaulted 3 times by alex james’ friends inside of chicago rock. ironically it also fails to mention that alex james’ group of friends waited outside of chicago and offered to go ‘somewhere where there were no cameras’.
liam woods is one of the most genuine lads i know and he never meant for the damage that was done. this is a total injustice and not a true portrayal of that night.
I must agree totally with the above comments by Jake and Pugs. Its an absolute disgrace that this article even got published. I for one have seen the CCTV footage of this incident and fully believe that Liam was in no other possition but to defend himself. Articles like this bring an even worse name to Warrington.