Telford man hit rival with a bat in front of Christmas shoppers

Kyle Gibbons had a fight with another man on the Telford Forge Retail Park on Christmas Eve, which spilled into a busy shop.

The teenager, of Blossomfield, Brookside, was given a suspended sentence when he appeared at Shrewsbury Crown Court.

Mr Hugh O'Brien Quinn, prosecuting told the court that the defendant and the complainant had a "history" and a previous argument had resulted in Gibbons giving the victim a black eye.

Mr O'Brien Quinn said the victim had seen the defendant shopping with another man and had sought to approach him in a bid to sort the situation out.

He followed the defendant who began loading bags into his car, he approached him, then claimed the defendant produced the bat.

Mr O'Brien Quinn said the defendant had claimed that the complainant had "run at him with a knife" but the court heard that CCTV had shown that was not the case.

The court heard that shoppers, uninvolved with the incident, had later seen a knife.

Gibbons approached the victim with the bat, when he ran off towards a shop, where Gibbons hit him.

Mr O'Brien Quinn said: "Staff at the shop were shouting at him to stop.

"At 4.30pm on Christmas eve, as you can imagine, the shop was full with men, women and children.

Following the attack, the defendant left the shop and the victim went to hospital where is injuries were looked at.

Gibbons, aged 19, faced a charge of assaulting Aaron Leddington and a charge of possessing an offensive weapon when he appeared at Telford Magistrates Court on April 25 but gave no indication of plea.

But at a hearing at Shrewsbury Crown Court earlier last week, he admitted the possession and a count of affray, but denied the charge of causing actual bodily harm. The plea was accepted by the prosecution.

The court heard that in an interview with the probation service ahead of the sentencing, Gibbons, who works full time at a factory on Halesfield, did not dispute the facts of the crime and said that he had been upset that day after arguing with his mother and due to an ongoing criminal investigation against him which was later dropped.

As well as serving the suspended sentence of three months held for a total of two years, Gibbons must also complete 10 days of a rehabilitation requirement with the probation service, pay court costs of £250 and a victim surcharge, a cost that goes towards helping the victims of crime.

Sentencing, Judge Jim Tindal said: "You are a young man and you work hard.

"But over the last year or so you have found yourself in the police station a number of times.

"I am concerned there is a bit of a pattern forming that you struggle to deal with a problem properly.

"Hopefully having a prison sentence hanging over your head should help to keep you on the straight and narrow."