Pair spared jail over 'nasty attack' with fishing pole outside man's home

Adam Pearce, 34, from Lawley, Telford, and Norton Wilkes, 32, from Lightmoor, also in Telford, were told by Judge Anthony Lowe they were lucky to avoid a prison sentence.

The pair had both admitted a charge of actual bodily harm on their victim, Sean Tudor.

Shrewsbury Crown Court was told that both men had gone to Sandhurst Meadow in Shrewsbury on November 28, 2020, where they had attacked the victim.

Olivia Appleby, prosecuting, said Wilkes had called the victim to threaten him late on the evening on November 27.

At around 1am both Wilkes and Pearce had turned up at Sandhurst Meadow where they attacked the victim in the street.

The incident was captured on CCTV and Ms Appleby said Wilkes had punched Mr Tudor, while Pearce hit him with a weapon – later clarified by the court as a metal fishing pole, normally used to rest a fishing rod on.

Ms Appleby said that Pearce had run from the scene but Wilkes stayed to kick and punch the victim before also running off.

Mr Tudor was taken to hospital for treatment on a number of injuries as a result of the attack.

Ms Appleby said the incident has had a lasting impact on the victim who had moved house as a result of the attack.

Brian Treadwell, mitigating for Wilkes, said that the 32-year-old had been under the influence of alcohol at the time and had intended to "confront" the victim, but "matters escalated very quickly".

He added that the attack had been "out of character".

Kevin Jones, mitigating for Pierce, said that in the time that it had taken the case to come to court he had shown positive behaviour, with no further offending.

Mr Jones also said that the weapon was not an 'iron bar', adding: "It does bend when it struck him, it does not have significant weight behind it."

Sentencing Judge Lowe said: "This was a nasty attack late at night outside the home of the victim. Whatever had arisen between you and the victim had arisen some considerable time before the attack and therefore there was plenty of time to calm down as opposed to getting in the car and driving over.

"In going over the actions Mr Wilkes it is difficult to draw any other inference than you drove over with the deliberate aim of attacking Mr Tudor – there was not question of driving over to 'sort it out'.

"He is attacked, you got him t0 the floor – by the time you get him to the floor it is done is it not, you have defeated the man. Thereafter it is – if it can be used in the context of an unlawful assault – it is gratuitous violence."

Both men were given 10 month jail sentences, suspended for two years.

Judge Lowe said that it was only their good behaviour since the offence that had spared them immediate jail time.

He said: "Both of you have done what you can in that period of 18 to 19 months to demonstrate this is nor how you normally behave."

He added: "You richly deserve to be going the steps today and if it had come before me in 2021 you would have."