Philip Button: Criminal attacked Sheffield man in own home over rumours they were in a relationship

A criminal attacked a man in his own home, leaving him with a fractured eye socket, after a rumour claiming the pair were in a relationship began to circulate in a Sheffield suburb. 

Defendant, Phillip Button, and the man he attacked were ‘known to each other,’ prior to the incident taking place, because they both drank in a pub on Manchester Road in the Stocksbridge area of Sheffield, prosecutor, Louise Reevell, said. 

Ms Reevell told Sheffield Crown Court: “Rumours were going around, saying that the defendant and complainant were in a homosexual relationship.”

In the hours running up to the incident on February 1, 2023, Button, aged 42, visited the Manchester Road pub with his girlfriend, and appeared ‘angry and upset’. 

Ms Reevell said a regular at the pub - who is friends with the complainant - described  Button as being ‘angry,’ ‘shouting’ and stating that he wanted the complainant’s telephone number.

“He [the regular] sent a message to the complainant, warning him about the defendant. He tried to telephone the complainant, but he couldn’t get hold of him,” Ms Reevell told a hearing held on April 15, 2024.

Ms Reevell continued: “Shortly thereafter, the complainant - who was at home - describes hearing banging at his door, so much so, that he describes thinking it was going to be kicked down. 

“So he opened the door, the defendant who was in front of the door, barged in and punched the complainant while he was in his living room. The complainant fell to his sofa, and he started attacking him, reigning down further punches to his body, face and arms.

“The complainant doesn’t recall him leaving his property, and is unsure whether there was a period where he was unconscious.”

Friends, including the regular from the pub, subsequently went to the complainant’s home to check on him, and convinced the complainant to go to hospital to be treated, the court heard. 

Ms Reevell said the complainant was found to have a fracture to his face and a wound to his arm which required stitches. 

The complainant was initially referred to a maxillofacial surgeon, but the fracture to his face was ultimately treated ‘conservatively,’ and without surgical intervention, the court heard. 

In a statement read to the court, the complainant described how the injuries he sustained were ‘incredibly painful,’ something he suggested was exacerbated with the eye fracture in particular because medics were unable to do much to treat it. 

“Day to day living was incredibly difficult. My right arm felt tight immediately after…I couldn’t use it for months and months after,” the complainant said.

He also detailed the psychological impact the attack continues to have on him, and the anxiety he feels knowing that Button is renovating a house just a short distance away from his home, which is made worse because he cannot afford to move away from the area. 

Button made an outburst as the complainant’s statement, detailing his injuries, was being read to the court; and Judge Michael Slater warned Button that he faced ‘going downstairs’ to custody if he continued.

“This is down to you - what he suffered - no-one else,” Judge Slater told Button, who remained silent for the rest of the hearing.

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Button, of Spink Hall Lane, Stocksbridge, Sheffield, pleaded guilty to one count of inflicting grievous bodily harm at an earlier hearing. 

The court was told he has a criminal record consisting of three previous convictions for offences including threatening behaviour, assaulting a police constable and battery.  

Andrew Bailey, defending, said Button had confirmed there was ‘no homophobic background’ to the assault, and the rumours of the relationship between the defendant and complainant were ‘false’. 

“They were having an effect upon his children...they were being bullied at school,” Mr Bailey told the court. 

Mr Bailey said Button, who was ‘in drink’ and had failed to take his mood stabilising medication at the time of the incident, has indicated remorse and accepts that he ‘deserves punishment’.

In addition to living with post-traumatic stress disorder relating to incidents of concern he witnessed as a child, Button has ‘caring responsibilities’ for his teenage daughter as well as his mother, who has Parkinson’s and is reliant upon him to do her shopping, cooking and other care duties, Mr Bailey said. 

Mr Bailey said members of his family were looking forward to him completing the renovation on his mother’s home because it will provide her with the necessary adaptations she needs. 

He said Button had been on a curfew since March 2023, and had therefore served the equivalent of a six-and-a-half month sentence.

Mr Bailey suggested that although the complainant’s injuries were ‘unpleasant,’ it was possible for them to be treated conservatively. 

Judge Slater sentenced Button to 21 months’ custody, suspended for two years, and ordered him to complete a 25-day rehabilitation activity requirement as well as 150 hours of unpaid work. 

Judge Slater told Button that after reviewing the evidence provided he had taken note of his mother’s ‘ever-worsening diagnosis’; and had come to the conclusion that should he send Button straight to prison it would ‘affect his mother’s health and wellbeing to an inordinate degree’. 

He also granted a restraining order, prohibiting Button from contacting the complainant, which will remain in place until further order of the court.