Pair sent to prison for revenge attack in Kingswood pub

TWO men recruited to carry out rough justice in a Bristol pub have been jailed for a total of six years and four months.

Luke Harrington and George Nicholson turned up at the Warwick Arms in Kingswood after Harrington's girlfriend phoned him and said she had been "touched up", Bristol Crown Court heard.

Harrington then set about James Wilson with a dumbbell bar, and Nicholson watched his back as others tried to intervene.

CCTV of the incident was shown in court:

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Harrington, 32, of Snowdon Road, Bristol, pleaded guilty to causing grievous bodily harm with intent in February.

Nicholson, 46, of Selkirk Road, Bristol, pleaded guilty to causing grievous bodily harm, driving with excess alcohol and driving while disqualified and without insurance.

The recorder Mr Nicholas Atkinson QC jailed Harrington for five years and Nicholson for a total of 16 months.

He told the men: "You both appreciate that this is a serious offence; an attack, in the evening, in a pub on this man.

"In many ways one should be grateful that the injuries were not more serious than they appear to have been."

John Penny, prosecuting, said Mr Wilson was in the pub when he noticed a woman having an argument. She came up to him and said: "Who are you? You don't know who I am?"

When Mr Wilson replied that he didn't care who she was, the woman said she would "tell Luke" and left the premises, the court heard.

The court was shown CCTV footage of the woman returning later, with Harrington and Nicholson, and Harrington raining blows on Mr Wilson with the foot-and-a-half long metal bar.

Mr Penny said Mr Wilson was left with cuts to his head, which needed stitches, and a fractured left hand.

The self-employed electrician was left unable to work and apprehensive about going out, the court was told.

Police stopped Harrington and Nicholson, complete with the metal bar, in their car.

Driver Nicholson, who was already banned from the road, was tested and found to have 58 microgrammes of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath. The limit is 35.

David Maunder, defending Harrington, said misinformation had prompted the incident after his client's girlfriend had told him she had been touched improperly, verbally abused, spat at and someone had tried to slap her in the face.

Mr Maunder said Harrington had lost his self-control when taken to the pub and was hit over the head himself with a bottle in the attack.

Jonathan Stanniland, defending Nicholson, said his client had driven his friend to the scene without knowing violence would take the form it did.

Mr Stanniland said: "He did, towards the end, try to rush his friend away from the scene.

"It was reckless rather than a deliberate intention there should be harm."