Woman left with gaping wound to her head after thug threw bar stool in unprovoked working men's club attack

The woman was left needing hospital treatment after Brenden Kennedy launched the stool from three metres away at Girnhill Lane Working Men's Club, Featherstone..

Kennedy, 32, had been drinking in the club on the afternoon of November 20 last year when the woman walked in and sat at the bar with a drink at around 5pm.

Leeds Crown Court was told the pair had been friends but that ended three years ago over a dispute.

Stephen Littlewood, prosecuting, said Kennedy was overheard by one witness talking on his phone saying the woman had walked in and he was going to throw a chair at her.

He then picked up the stool and without warning hurled it at the woman.

It caught another drinker with a "glancing blow" before striking the unsuspecting woman in the face.

The stool smashed on impact and the woman was left with a gaping wound to her head.

Kennedy then walked out without speaking.

He was later arrested but gave a no-comment interview with police.

The defendant later admitted a charge of assault relating to the male victim and one of assault occasioning actual bodily harm on the female.

Kennedy, of Bradford Road, Wakefield, has a history of violence and was handed a six-year jail term in 2011 for grievous bodily harm and another 27-month jail term in 2015 for actual bodily harm.

Andrew Stranex, mitigating, said Kennedy had tried hard to get his life back on track and had avoided violent confrontations since his last jail term.

He described him as a "grafter" when it came to work but said he was currently unemployed.

Mr Stranex said: "What happened on that day he bitterly regrets. It was a culmination of circumstances that got to him.

"He lost his cool. He expresses genuine remorse."

Recorder Anesh Pema said that Kennedy's previous convictions for violence were an aggravating feature, and that only a custodial sentence could be justified.

He jailed him for 18 months.