Ex soldier fractured man's face with savage Wakefied pub attack, then offered him £10,000
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Toby Thorpe blamed his Army training on his violent tendencies after he was caught on camera throwing “forceful” blows at the man’s head in the Black Swan pub in Wakefield city centre, Leeds Crown Court heard.
He later denied a number of offences and was due to stand trial, before he offered a guilty plea of Section 20 GBH without intent, which was accepted by the Crown.
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Hide AdThe 29-year-old, who has a history of violence, had been in the Silver Street pub on the night of July 22 last year with friends and his pregnant partner. The victim had also been out with friends in a separate seating booth and they did not know each other, prosecutor Laura Addy told the court.


One of the victim’s group then threw an ice cube towards the dance floor, which led to Thorpe approaching the group and begin remonstrating. CCTV showed Thorpe get “in the man’s face” and was reported to have said: “Who the f*** do you think you are? I will f****** stab you.”
He then struck him with with six powerful punches to the head, with the man trying to protect himself. He then stopped, before kneeing the man and leaving the area.
The victim first went to his sister’s, before he went to Pinderfields. He had a bloodshot eye that he was unable to move, and multiple fractures to his cheek bone and eye socket.
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Hide AdMiss Addy told the court that Thorpe, of Birch Street, Wakefield, later made contact with the victim and offered him the cash to not go to the police, and a meeting was arranged. Thorpe was later arrested and gave a no-comment interview.
The court heard that Thorpe has eight previous convictions, including a section 47 ABH for a glass bottle attack, was convicted of GBH without intent for punching a person who was trying to break up an argument, another GBH without intent for punching a man in a bar and a common assault for punching a man in a nightclub.
Mitigating, Jonathan Turner said that father-of-two Thorpe should be given credit for offering the GBH without intent, given that the complainant in the case did not support the Crown’s case.
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Hide AdHe said that the violence he has become embroiled in was “from the training he underwent in the Army” and had “been left with the ability to cause serious harm” but had no emotional support or anger-management help after leaving the Forces.
However, he added that alcohol was a difficulty and that Thorpe was reducing his intake. He said that night he was concerned that his pregnant partner could have slipped on the ice thrown from the adjacent table.
The judge, Recorder Ayesha Smart told him: “This was an unprovoked attack, you threw forceful punches to the head. This is not the first time you have been involved in violence.”
She accepted that he had offered a guilty plea despite the victim not lending his support to the prosecution, so gave him marginally more credit. However, she still jailed him for 34 months.