Sheffield pub landlord struck "difficult" customer over head with rubber mallet
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Sheffield Crown Court heard on December 3 how Jon Terry, aged 49, of Valley Road, Meersbrook, Sheffield, struck the customer outside the White Lion, on London Road, Sheffield, after the complainant had allegedly been causing difficulties and had refused to leave.
James Baird, prosecuting, said: “Police received a call from a member of the public that a man had been assaulted on London Road, Sheffield.
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Hide Ad“They reported the attacker was seen walking back into the White Lion.”
The complainant told police he had been in The White Lion looking for his ex-partner and the next minute he was on the ground, according to Mr Baird.
Mr Baird said the complainant was reportedly causing problems and had refused to leave so Terry picked up a rubber mallet to scare him but he lost his temper outside and hit the complainant over the head.
The defendant claimed the complainant threatened staff, according to Mr Baird, and Judge Jeremy Richardson QC recognised Terry had been dealing with an allegedly “difficult customer”.
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Hide AdTerrry, who had a favourable reference from his local MP, pleaded guilty to causing unlawful wounding after the incident about 8.15pm, on June 22, 2019.
Judge Richardson told Terry: “I have not the least doubt from time-to-time you, and in common with every landlord in the country, have a very difficult customer.
“There are ways and means of dealing with difficult customers. You should have implemented those means on this occasion.”
He added: “You picked up a weapon. It may not have been the most grievous of weapons but it was a weapon all the same.
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Hide Ad“Having put this man out of the premises you then assaulted him by hitting him on the head with the rubber mallet causing him to suffer a wound and having to attend hospital to have it stitched.”
Judge Richardson sentenced Terry to 12 months of custody suspended for 18 months and warned if he commits another offence in the next year-and-a-half he will be resentenced for this assault and any new matter.
