Furious Castleford resident 'hammered' man who snapped windscreen wiper, breaking his jaw, cheek and eye bone
A resident who came out when he saw a man snap a windscreen wiper on a van on his street “hammered” him, raining punches down on his face.
The victim was left with multiple fractures to his eye socket, cheek and jaw after Nicholas Jones attacked him relentlessly.
The incident happened on Crowther Street in Castleford on October 22, 2023, with Jones sentenced at Leeds Crown Court this week.
The 41-year-old was initially charged with Section 18 GBH with intent, but a plea of guilty to the lesser charge of Section 20 without intent was later accepted by the Crown.
Prosecutor Carmel Pearson said the victim was with a group of men that day, hanging around outside the property when he vandalised the van.
Jones left the property and laid into the man, punching him repeatedly to the face, knocking him to the floor.
Jones then picked him up and threw him towards the van, telling he would kill him if he did it again.
The victim had a bruised eye and bloody nose, but he later went to hospital where it was found he had suffered the fractures.
Jones was arrested and admitted to the police he had been drinking at the time and his behaviour was “petty”.
Jones, of Wesley Street, Castleford, has no previous court appearances to his name.
Mitigating, Jeremy Barton, said Jones’ best point was his early admission and that he was “frank” with police, but conceded: “There can be no excuse for his behaviour.”
He said: “He did not try to minimise his actions.” He said that Jones had an issue with alcohol.
Judge Andrew Stubbs KC told Jones: “You were drunk and took the law into your own hands. You went out and you hammered him.”
He acknowledged that Jones had not been before the courts before, so opted to give him an 18-month sentence, suspended for 12 months.
He was handed 180 hours of unpaid work, 25 rehabilitation days with probation and a 120-day alcohol-monitoring requirement.