Derbyshire thug said "look at the f****** state of him now" after glassing bar doorman

Joshua Walker punched the man in the face when he was challenged about his age at the Tipsy Toad cocktail bar, in Matlock, on June 22, last year.

The doorman described how a crowd of around 15 men, linked to Walker, were gathered outside, said Judge Robert Egbuna when making his sentencing remarks at Derby Crown Court, on Wednesday.

The doorman said they "swarmed around him raining punches down from all sides."

Walker brandished an appetiser board with both hands but it snapped under its own weight and crashed to the ground.

He then picked up a tumbler from a beer barrel, emptied the contents and struck the doorman between his eyes, said Judge Ebguna. The glass shattered, causing cuts all over his face and neck.

The doorman said "a smug look and a smile" broke across Walker's face before he, and members of the group, began laughing.

As he left in a vehicle, Walker was seen making an obscene gesture.

The court heard that the doorman was left with ten small cuts to face and throat, as well as bruising and swelling, and the attack had "a significant impact on him."

He had worked as a doorman for eight years but was forced to stop because he kept suffering flashbacks to "the experience of a glass being struck in between the eyes."

Judge Egbuna said the offence was aggravated by the location, the fact it was committed against someone serving members of the public and because Walker was drunk at the time.

The court heard that Walker, of previous good character, had testimonials written in his behalf and his remorse was indicated by an early guilty plea.

Significant delays bringing the case to court were caused by Walker and the Covid 19 pandemic.

Walker, 25, of Sir John Warren Way, Loscoe, Heanor, pleaded guilty to assault occasioning actual bodily harm, at the magistrates' court in September.

Judge Robert Egbuna said "the appropriate punishment could only be achieved by immediate custody," and he handed Walker 12 months - which was “the least sentence the court could impose.”

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