A builder has been spared jail after he battered a man who told a barmaid to “go f*** yourself” when she wouldn’t give him her number.
Austen West, 40, punched Stuart Lee twice as last orders were called at the Dicken Inn in Thornton-Cleveleys near Blackpool, a court has heard.
As the young barmaid asked customers to finish their drinks on September 23, 2023, a “drunken and inappropriate” Mr Lee replied: "Only if you give me your number, sweetheart."
When the girl said she was only 17, Lee replied: "Well you can go f*** yourself then,” Lancs Live reports.
As Mr Lee walked towards the exit, West, who had been drinking in the pub with a group of six or seven people, approached him and punched him twice. Mr Lee was left with a black eye and a fractured eye socket which required surgery under general anaesthetic, Preston Crown Court heard.
Widow brings pillow with late husband's face on it to pub every New Year's Eve
Following the operation he had numbness to his cheek which continued for several months. In a victim statement he said it was distressing for his children to see the injuries and he had lost money as he was self employed and could not work for six weeks.
Preston Crown Court (MEN Media)"Everyone in the Cleveleys area seems to know", he said. "I used to go to the Cleveleys area quite a lot with my partner but now I don't go there. This has spoilt it as I don't want to have further issues."
The court heard West, of Kingsway, Thornton, has a previous conviction for ABH from 2011 when he punched someone in a 'pre-emptive strike.' He pleaded guilty to Section 20 wounding and appeared at Preston Crown Court to be sentenced.
The court heard West has a construction business which he has built up and employs a number of people. He felt antagonised by Mr Lee, but that did not excuse his behaviour, his barrister said.
Sentencing, Recorder Graham Lowe said: "As closing time approached, there was an altercation between Mr Lee and members of the bar staff which was really, drunken and inappropriate behaviour. The landlord asked him to leave, and he was saying "what are you looking at?" That may have been directed at you.
"He should have left at that point and you should have remained where you were. You stormed across and punched him twice, which resulted in a damaged eye socket with multiple fractures. That was not the only impact in him. He suffered, as a result, stress in his family who had to witness what he looked like for several weeks. It was distressing for them and for him.
"He has now changed his social habits. The consequences of that moment of foolish loss of self control are manifest and have resulted in you ending up in the dock of the crown court. That kind of conduct in a public place is not to be tolerated."
He sentenced West to nine months, suspended for 12 months with 180 hours of unpaid work and 10 days rehabilitation activity requirements.
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