‘Lucky’ thug that left a man with bleeding brain outside Leeds’ Space nightclub avoids jail again

Kaney Barrett was part of a group that brutally beat the victim on Duncan Street after leaving Space in February 2018.

He was given a lenient 12-month community order and unpaid work for the attack, but was brought back before Leeds Crown Court this week following a string of breaches of the order.

No long after his sentencing, he was given additional work hours for failing to comply. Then in November 2021, the order was extended after he “made little progress”, prosecutor Jade Edwards told Leeds Crown Court.

Barrett was then brought back to court in November last year because he had still failed to progress, so the order was extended once again.

This week the 23-year-old returned to court after admitting he twice failed to attend appointments in December.

Mitigating, Shila Whitehead said that he had been suffering from depression and anxiety affecting his everyday life, but acknowledged he had “buried his head in the sand” at times.

Clearly unimpressed, the judge, the Recorder of Leeds, Guy Kearl KC, said Barrett was lucky not to have been jailed the first time around.

He said: “You have shown a lack of commitment and you were extremely fortunate to receive a community order. It seems to me, had it come before me, a prison sentence will have followed.

"You have demonstrated that you are unwilling to comply with the order. This is wilful and persistent.”

He revoked the original community order and gave Barrett a 12-month jail sentence, but suspended it for 24 months. He also told him to pay a £200 fine.

Recorder Kearl said the fact he had stayed out of trouble since that night, aside from the breaches, meant he could suspended the sentence.

Barrett, of Lingfield Drive, Moortown, was part of the group that attacked the man, with Barrett “delivering at least three blows” to the man’s head while he was on the floor. The incident was caught on CCTV.

The victim suffered a fractured skull and the blood clot on his brain. Barrett was convicted of section 20 grievous bodily harm.