A man who ‘accidentally’ glassed his friend in the face in a pub beer garden in Lancaster has avoided jail.
Jack Grieve-Robson, 32, was on bail for an attack on another man in an alley in Lancaster when he assaulted his friend, Preston Crown Court heard.
During the first attack, Grieve-Robson, an off-duty doorman, was captured on CCTV leaving a nightclub in the early hours of December 4, 2022. His victim had left the same nightclub, however the men were not together.
The first man walked into the alley, and seconds later, Grieve-Robson went to the same area. Shadows captured on camera showed the defendant attack the victim. He took the man to the ground and kicked him repeatedly to his face. Footage showed Grieve-Robson standing over the man, punching downwards, as he lay on the floor.
About a minute later, Grieve-Robson walked from the alley and the man stumbled out with injuries to his head and face. At hospital, the man was found to have bruises and grazes all over his head and face and a fractured nose.
Grieve-Robson was identified from the CCTV footage and arrested. However while he was on bail he wounded another man, who he was friends with.
As the pair sat in a beer garden the defendant went to throw his drink at his pal. However he struck him with the glass, causing it to break, cutting his friend’s nose and lip in the process.
Grieve-Robson, of St Paul’s Drive, Lancaster, pleaded guilty to ABH of the first man and wounding his friend, saying he did not intent to make contact with the glass. The pair are no longer friends, the court heard.
Testimonials from his employers at the Ship Inn, Caton, described Grieve-Robson as “a very valuable member of staff” who works as a chef.
Sentencing, Judge Philip Parry said: “This is very worrying and serious city centre violence, which people who go put for a nice evening in Lancaster are just sick and fed up of seeing. You yourself are a member of door staff whose job it is to diffuse situations like this – not, when you are on a night out, to perpetrate them.”
He said had the attack on his friend been intentional, Grieve-Robson would be going straight to prison. However he said he had avoided an immediate custodial sentence ‘by the skin of his teeth’.
He sentenced him to 18 months suspended for two years with 20 days rehabilitation activities and 175 hours of unpaid work. He also put the defendant on a tagged curfew to remain indoors from 8:30pm to 7am for four months, to include the Christmas and New Year period.
Source – Lancs Live