'Cowardly attack' between Lancashire mates leads to jail time | Preston Crown Court
Preston Crown court hears how a mock boxing match leads to a ‘cowardly attack’.
A mock boxing bout between two drinking pals led to one of the “fighters” being beaten up the following day, a court heard.
The man who staged the play fight in the lounge of his house in Blackpool later discovered cash and a bank card had been stolen from his coat. When he tried to find out who had taken them, he was subjected to a “cowardly” attack by two mates he had known for years, Preston Crown Court was told.
Michael Sumner pleaded guilty to inflicting grievous bodily harm on the victim and Ryan Moore admitted assault causing actual bodily harm.
Sumner, 49, of Rockingham Road, Bispham, was jailed for 16 months for his part in the attack. Moore, 46, from Beeches Court, Thornton, was spared immediate prison and given a 28-week sentence suspended for two years.
The court was told the victim had known Sumner for about 25 years and Moore for around a decade. They had all gathered at his house one night together with another male who had not been charged.
It was suggested the householder and the other man should have a mock boxing fight, which Moore filmed on his phone. All three visitors left the house and the next morning the victim discovered around £100 cash and a bank card were missing.
He phoned Sumner to ask if he knew what had happened to the property and he denied taking it. But later he and Moore went round to the house where the man was punched and struck several times while sitting on the sofa.
They fled before police arrived, leaving the man bleeding from a wound on his forehead and with injured hands. When they were arrested Sumner said “no comment” to all questions, while Moore told officers the bust-up had been over £10 worth of crack cocaine.
In a victim impact statement read in court the injured householder admitted he was still scared of bumping into the men if he went out.
He claimed his nose had been broken and still caused him pain. He accused one of the two men of taking the money and cash card from his coat pocket. “It was all I had, I couldn’t afford to lose it,” he said. He said he didn’t want to see Sumner “ever again”.
Despite claims that a hammer had been used in the attack and the victim had also been head-butted, the court heard nothing could be proved.
Barrister Paul Humphries, representing Sumner, said his client had spent the last nine months in custody on remand. He denied ever using a weapon or a head-butt.
Julie Taylor, for Moore, urged the judge to suspend any prison sentence. She said at the time of the offence he had been homeless and a drug user, but he had since addressed his drug use and had “got his life back on track”.
Judge Robert Altham said the victim had provided two statements about the incident. In one he had claimed a hammer was used on him and in the other he denied the men had a weapon.
He said Moore had admitted punching him twice, possibly three times. The previous evening the men had been at the victim’s home and a mock boxing bout was arranged between the victim and the other man. The next morning the victim found money and a bank card were missing from his coat.
He had rung Moore to ask if any of the men had taken it and he and Sumner went back to the house. The victim was assaulted, leaving with an “unpleasant” wound on his forehead.
He told the pair that the victim now had an ongoing fear of them and no longer felt safe in his own home.
“This was an unpleasant offence in a man’s home, two of you attacking one person.”
He said Sumner’s criminal record was a “substantial” one. But the only offence of violence since 2009 had come last year when he had been jailed for 12 months for an attack on a former partner. He had been on licence for that when he committed the latest offence.
Moore, he said, also had a significant record, but the bulk of his offending had come when he was much younger. “You accept responsibility (for this offence) and you have shown remorse,” he said. He was not considered to be a dangerous offender and the offence had been “wholly out of character”.
Addressing Sumner he told him he was the leader and there was “an element of bullying” in what he did.
“It is a serious aggravating feature that it was committed in someone’s home and you were on licence. It was a cowardly attack.”
He sentenced Sumner to 16 months in jail for inflicting GBH. Moore was given a 28-month sentence suspended for two years and ordered to wear an electronic curfew tag for 20 weeks and complete 20 rehabilitation activity days.
Judge Altham also imposed a restraining order banning both men from making any contact with the victim for the next five years “to protect him from harassment and violence”.