Drunken row ends up in Shrewsbury park assault

Liam Jordan Davies, 18, threatened to stab a passer-by who intervened when he saw him slap his crying girlfriend, magistrates at Telford heard.

Prosecutor Mike Phillips said Davies was drunk and belligerent when he slapped his girlfriend across the face, attacked a man walking his dog, and threatened to stab him and his girlfriend.

Davies admitted two counts of assault by beating, one count of using threatening words and behaviour and a separate charge of assaulting a police officer when he appeared in court.

Mr Phillips said that the victim had been walking his dog in the Quarry Park on February 12 when he saw a teenage girl run out of bushes sobbing and screaming, followed by a man carrying two cans of cider.

The victim kept an eye on the couple and saw Davies, of Park Stone Drive, Shrewsbury, slap the girl across the face as she knelt on the ground.

Mr Phillips said the victim had come over to the defendant to remonstrate with him and tell him there was no excuse for hitting women, to which Davies responded by spitting at him and saying: "I have got something in my pocket. I'll stick you in your belly."

The victim did not believe the threat and thought Davies was "just a kid grandstanding", said Mr Phillips. However the victim's girlfriend then arrived on the scene and, on seeing Davies shouting, called the police.

Mr Phillips said the defendant called her a "little rat" and threatened to "cut her" as well. When the man knelt down to tie up his dog, the defendant ran up and kicked him in the knee and the two fell wrestling to the floor.

As the police arrived the defendant was seen telling his girlfriend that this was her fault, said Mr Phillips, who added that the 15-year-old girl had not wanted to press charges.

Mr Phillips said the charges of assaulting a police officer stemmed from a separate incident when officers visited Davies at an address on January 31. After waking him in bed, he jumped up and punched an officer on the shoulder.

For Davies, Mr Euros Jones said that the police officer's gesture of self-defence had resulted in the defendant being taken to hospital to have a wound on his head glued back together.

It was the first time Davies had been tried in an adult court and had spent time in custody, having been kept in prison since his arrest, he added.

Mr Jones described the Quarry attack as coming after a row between Davies and his girlfriend in which the defendant had been attacked several times.

Sentence was adjourned to March 18.