Bus bully repeatedly beat and headbutted ageing passenger on Leeds service
A thug who headbutted and beat a pensioner on a bus for swearing at his wife has avoided being locked up.
Christopher Bullerwell attacked the 67-year-old on the top deck of a service, then returned minutes later to dish out another violent assault.
Not content, he then “recruited” a gang of thugs who got on the bus and whom he knew and they continued the assault.
Bullerwell was initially charged with a GBH charge, which was later reduced to ABH. He pleaded guilty at Leeds Crown Court.
The court heard that Bullerwell and his wife and daughter got on the service towards Beeston on December 7, 2024 just before 5pm.
The victim then got on the bus and is said to have brushed past Bullerwell’s wife, who was stood up.
Witnesses say the victim swore at the woman before heading up to the top deck.
Bullerwell, 54, got up and grabbed the man by his hood and tried to drag him down the stairs.
He followed him up and headbutted him and punched him to the face three times.
A bystander stepped in to separate them and Bullerwell went back downstairs, prosecutor Carmel Pearson said.
Still seething, a group of three males wearing hoods and whom Bullerwell knew, got on the bus, so he returned with the men upstairs again and continued the assault.
Bullerwell was seen to “rain more blows down” on the man, headbutting him again.
Passengers once again interjected to protect the victim who was bleeding from his face.
The driver eventually stopped and contacted the police, but not before the group shoved the man’s head against the window after Bullerwell had got off.
The man suffered a fractured cheekbone, broken ribs, cuts to his forehead and eyebrow and had blurred vision for days.
He had five months off work as a result.
Bullerwell, of Northcote Crescent, Beeston, has 22 previous convictions for 69 offences, including violence.
Mitigating, Matthew Stewart said Bullerwell “takes full responsibility” and despite there being an “element of provocation” from the victim, he conceded the reaction was “totally unacceptable” and was a “moment of madness”.
He said there was remorse and Bullerwell had even been saving up money from his benefits to pay compensation to the victim.
Judge Ray Singh accepted his remorse and opted to give him a 22-month sentence, suspended for two years, 10 rehabilitation days with probation and a four-month electronically-monitored curfew order.
He also told him to pay £500 compensation to the victim.
Inquiries are continuing to identify the other men who got on the bus.