Homeless thug armed with knife throws turps over group in Leeds city centre who 'called him names'
A thug who threw a bottle of turps over a group during an argument in Leeds city centre has been jailed.
James Harrington said he was “called names” during the spat, before he walked away then returned and hurled the white spirit over the people on Travelyan Square.
He also had a Stanley knife on him, Leeds Crown Court. He was handed an 18-month sentence after he admitted offences of affray and possession of a bladed article in public.
The incident happened at around 2pm on June 23 and was caught on CCTV.
The homeless 40-year-old appeared to walk towards the group as words were exchanged. He then retreated and was seen removing the lid from the bottle, walk back and throw the contents over the group.
But they then set upon Harrington who suffered “significant injuries” himself, prosecutor Jessica Heggie told the court.
No serious injuries were caused to the victim by the white spirit. The bottle was found at the scene by police along with the sharp knife.
Following his arrest, Harrington said the group had called him names, but gave contradictory accounts regarding the contents of the bottle, although he maintains he was helping a friend decorate as to the reason why he had the bottle with him.
He has 36 previous convictions for 71 offences. He was previously jailed for downloading indecent images of children and had breached the terms of the sex offender register 18 times.
Mitigating, Stuart Field said Harrington had been in the city centre that day “minding his own business” when he was accosted and ridiculed by the group.
He added: “At first he walked away from them, but he exercised poor judgement in deciding to turn around, go back and vent his anger.
“If anybody was injured, it was him.”
He said Harrington struggled with homelessness. The court also heard that he had an addiction to drugs.
Judge Mushtaq Khokhar told Harrington, who appeared in court via video link from HMP Leeds: “It could have been worse, it could have gone into someone’s eyes and caused damage.
“It was a bad incident. Members of the public shopping around on a Saturday should be expected to be left in peace rather than have people fighting in the street.
“Until you address the cause of your drug addiction, things are going to get worse, rather than better. You are getting older and older.”