Mick Bates fined over paramedic assaults

Montgomeryshire AM Mick Bates was today ordered to pay more than £5,000 after being convicted of assaulting two paramedics and a staff nurse following a night out in Cardiff.

The 63-year-old of Llanfair Caereinion, near Welshpool, was found guilty of three common assault charges and three public order offences at Cardiff Magistrates Court earlier today.

During the six-day trial, Bates was accused of punching one paramedic in the chest and grabbing another violently by the wrist as they attempted to treat him for a head injury.

Police and paramedics were called to Charleston's Steakhouse in Cardiff on January 20 after the politician fell down a set of stairs.

They said they found Mr Bates slumped, smelling strongly of alcohol and with a bleeding head.

Carl Jones, a Welsh Ambulance Service paramedic in Cardiff, was struck in the chest by Bates, who also grabbed Mr Jones' colleague Darren Noble by the wrists.

Later, after being taken to the University Hospital of Wales in Cardiff, Bates threatened hospital staff with a pair of scissors and grabbed the arm of staff nurse, Clare Morris, and refused to let go.

Bates was fined £4,250, ordered to pay £600 compensation to his three victims, £625 prosecution costs and a £15 victim surcharge.

Kirsty Williams, leader of the Welsh Liberal Democrats, was expected to make a statement on Bates' future following the sentence.