Drunk thug attacked three people at Leeds pizza shop over pound coin dropped on floor

A court heard Keiran Dalton kicked and punched one of the victims around 20 times during the incident at Pizza Bella in Wetherby.

The 25-year-old also dragged a woman to the ground by her hair and kicked her in the stomach.

He attacked a third victim and caused serious injury to his thumb by jumping on him.

Leeds Crown Court was told how violence erupted at the takeaway on May 19 last year after Dalton had spent the evening drinking with his girlfriend.

Martin Robertshaw, prosecuting, said Dalton and his partner became involved in an "innocuous argument over a pound coin that fell on the floor" with another couple who were also waiting for food.

The prosecutor said the two women were involved in a "tussle".

Dalton then attacked the couple outside the takeaway.

He grabbed the woman by the hair and pulled her to the ground before attacking her partner.

Dalton knocked the man to the ground and kicked and punched him around 20 times to the head, arms and legs.

The defendant returned to the woman and kicked her in the abdomen while she was on the ground.

Dalton then attacked another man who tried to act as a "peacemaker".

He assaulted him inside the premises and caused a serious injury to his thumb by jumping on top of him.

The man needed an operation after the thumb was badly dislocated.

Dalton, of Lyndon Avenue, Wetherby, was arrested and claimed in interview that he had acted in self defence.

He pleaded guilty to two counts of assault occasioning actual bodily harm and one of unlawful wounding.

The court heard Dalton has previous convictions for assaulting a police constable and being drunk and disorderly.

Timothy Jacobs, mitigating, said Dalton worked hard for a living and handed letters of reference to the court written on the defendant's behalf by his employer.

Mr Jacobs said Dalton pleaded guilty to the offences at an early stage but did not accept that he had struck one of the victims 20 times.

Dalton was jailed for 18 months.

Judge Neil Clark said: "This was extreme violence in a public place."