A man who armed himself with a knife and told a Richmond pub landlady he “wanted to stab someone up” has been spared jail.
Matthew Curtis, 38, flew into a drunken rage after being ejected from two pubs in a single night for his rowdy behaviour, York Crown Court heard.
Prosecutor Kelly Clarke said that Curtis was first ejected from the Unicorn pub in Newbiggin for “causing a nuisance to other customers” on the evening of June 28 last year. He was next seen being kicked out of The Talbot pub in Market Place at 11pm for being “intoxicated”.
He then tried to get into the Golden Lion in Market Place, but the manager wouldn’t let him in. Curtis walked away, but about 30 minutes later he returned and kicked one of the pub windows, causing £100 damage.
At about 11.45pm, he returned to the Unicorn – only this time “covered in blood” and brandishing a large kitchen knife.
The pub doorman saw Curtis approaching with an “angry face and blood on his shirt”. He was carrying a knife in his hand which was “raised above his shoulder, with the blade pointing towards me”.
The doorman closed the door and retreated inside, “screaming” at customers to call police as he tried to keep the door shut.
“There were 15-to-20 (people) inside the pub but no one could hear me because of the loud music,” said the named doorman.
He said he could hear Curtis shouting outside as the knifeman tried to force the door open. At one point, Curtis managed to open the door slightly, but the doorman forced him back about a metre.
“He came back to the door, still rambling on, (but) I couldn’t understand what he was saying,” added the doorman.
Then, in an act of incredible bravery, the landlady went outside and tried to calm Curtis down as he brandished the knife.
Curtis shouted at her: “I want to stab someone up.”
He then pointed at the doorman whom he blamed for his earlier ejection from the pub. The landlady, who was “full of adrenaline”, then stepped in front of the doorman and asked Curtis to hand over the knife.
He refused, but then put the knife back in his pocket, saying he “would not hurt her”.
“(The landlady) took him to a neighbouring doorway and the police arrived moments later,” said Ms Clarke.
Curtis, of Bargate, Richmond, was arrested and taken to hospital while in custody for treatment to a deep gash to his finger which was self-inflicted and for checks on a pre-existing heart condition.
He told police he couldn’t remember any of the incidents because he had been drinking vodka-and-tonic which, combined with a low-carb ‘keto’ diet he had been following, had caused a memory black-out.
He didn’t know how he’d come about his injury, didn’t know how he’d got hold of the knife and said his behaviour was “out of character”.
He was charged with affray and carrying a blade at the Unicorn and damaging a window at the Golden Lion. He admitted the offences and appeared for sentence today.
The court heard that Curtis had been “falling-over drunk” and was “getting in customers’ faces” before being ejected from the Unicorn earlier in the evening.
He was on bail at the time, awaiting sentence for drink-driving and threatening behaviour. In September last year, he was given a 12-month community order with an alcohol-treatment programme for those offences.
Graham Parkin, Curtis’s solicitor advocate, said the father-of-one worked “ad-hoc” as a tiler and bathroom fitter and was now getting help from support agencies for his drinking which had helped him cut down.
Recorder Andrew Dallas said that Curtis had posed a “serious threat” to everybody at the pub.
He told the Richmond man: “You were very drunk, very unpredictable and threatening to stab people in the pub, were you able to get in. It must have been a terrifying sight to the doorman.”
He said it was only the “extraordinary professionalism and courage” of the landlady that had averted what could have been “something even more serious” inside the pub.
Mr Dallas added dryly: “It seems that vodka and the ‘keto’ diet don’t go together at all.”
However, he said he could take the “exceptional” course of suspending the inevitable jail sentence because Curtis’s previous convictions were “few and far between” and it appeared that he was having “some sort of crisis at the time” while “seriously abusing alcohol”.
He also noted that Curtis had complied “extremely well” with his existing community order, was “trying to grapple with the alcohol problem”, had parenting responsibilities and now had a job despite a serious heart condition.
The 12-month jail sentence was suspended for two years, during which Curtis must complete a new six-month alcohol-treatment programme and 25 rehabilitation-activity days. He was also made subject to a three-month curfew which means he must remain indoors between 8pm and 7am daily.
He was made to pay £150 prosecution costs and £100 compensation to the Golden Lion for the damage to the window.
Mr Dallas said the Unicorn landlady should be “commended for the way in which she handled the situation and she has the commendation of this court for her actions on that night”.
Source – Richmondshire today
