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Man jailed after bottle attack on rival which almost sliced his nose off

By
January 14, 2014
assault, EDL, English Defence League, Jailed

A MAN who almost had his nose sliced off when he was attacked with a broken bottle has told how it has devastated his life.

William Burnside was yesterday jailed for six years for the vicious assault outside Yates’s Wine Lodge in Darlington last summer.

The 24-year-old was told by a judge at Teesside Crown Court: “A broken bottle can cause disfigurement – it can cause death.”

Victim Christopher Turner suffered three wounds down to the muscle in his arm as he tried to block further blows towards his face.

Police said afterwards that had any of the thrusts made their way past his defences, Mr Turner could have been caught in the neck.

Detective Constable Mick Trodden said: “They have both been lucky in a way. It could have been a murder case we were dealing with.”

The court heard how bad feeling between the two men had “simmered” for years before they clashed at the town centre pub.

The pair argued before Burnside was asked to leave, but he returned with a bottle of brown ale which he smashed and used as a weapon.

In an impact statement, 26-year-old Mr Turner – who is scarred for life – said he still suffers from numbness in his face and left arm.

He said he had to turn down a labouring job because he cannot lift heavy objects, and told how he is also unable to go to the gym.

Prosecutor Harry Hadfield said Mr Turner underwent a four-hour operation and plastic surgery, and has had four further hospital visits.

Vic Laffey, mitigating, said: “The incident occurred after a build-up of bad feeling which had simmered for a number of years.

“Mr Burnside deeply regrets what happened on this evening, and he deeply regrets the injuries he has caused this young man.

“He is clearly remorseful and up until this point in time, he had led a relatively blame-free life. He will take his punishment.”

Burnside, of Elton Parade, Darlington, admitted wounding with intent on August 22 last year at an earlier court hearing.

He told police after handing himself in that he had downed at least seven bottles of Newcastle Brown Ale and a pint that day.

Judge Simon Bourne-Arton said: “Goodness knows what went through your mind on this occasion when you carried out this very serious attack.

“When he came out, you broke that bottle and you had a very fearsome and dangerous weapon at your disposal.

“You broke it for the one and only reason to attack him and cause him more serious injury.

“He effects of the alcohol you had wore off. The effects of what you did to him will never wear off.

“He was left with scars and will remain with scars to his face and arm. His life has changed as a result of what you did.”

Northern Echo

Burnside, 2nd from the left

Burnside, 2nd from the left

Darlington man admits serious wounding charge

By
December 11, 2013
EDL, English Defence League, grievous bodily harm, Wounding

A MAN was warned he faces a lengthy jail sentence after admitting a charge of wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm.

William Burnside, 24, of Elton Parade, Darlington, ‘glassed’ his victim with a beer bottle leaving him with deep cuts to his face and arm.

The attack happened in Darlington town centre on August 27 this year.

Burnside appeared at Teesside Crown Court and pleaded guilty to the offence in front of Recorder Bernard Gateshill.

Adjourning the case for a pre-sentence report, Recorder Gateshill told the defendant: “Cases of this kind inevitably attract lengthy custodial sentences. You must be prepared for such an outcome.

“The fact that I am adjourning your case and granting you bail must not give you any grounds for hope that there will be an alternative outcome.”

Burnside is due to be sentenced next year on January 13.


The Northern Echo

Burnside 2nd left.

Burnside 2nd left.

Dealer slashed men with cut-throat razor in brutal gang attack

By
August 24, 2013
assault, Drugs, EDL, English Defence League, Jailed, possessing an offensive weapon, violent disorder

marcus ward

A drug dealing English Defence League supporter slashed two men with a cut throat razor during a brutal gang attack at a pub.

Twenty-six year-old Marcus Ward went on the run for two-and-a-half years following the attack in March 2010, only handing himself in to police in September last year.

Judge Jonathan Foster QC branded Ward a ‘dangerous man’ at Manchester’s Minshull Street Crown Court as he jailed him a total of 11 years. Ward and fellow supporters of the far-right organisation visited the Oddfellows in Middleton following a march in Bolton.

But the gang, who were wearing English Defence League clothing and carrying EDL flags, were asked to leave the Oldham Road pub by the concerned landlord due to their rowdy behaviour.

When the landlord went outside to explain why he had asked them to leave he was punched and kicked in the face.

Two bystanders went to help the landlord, when Ward, formerly of North Street, Boarshaw, assaulted them with a cut-throat razor.

One victim was left with a 15cm cut to the back of his head and a cut lip. The other suffered slashes running from his left shoulder to his back. One wound was so serious he needed surgery.

The court was told Ward was one of eight children raised by a father who was described by the judge as a violent ‘habitual criminal’, after his mother left home when he was four years old.

Ward was on bail for firearms offences at the time of the attack. He was caught with a pistol and a sawn-off shotgun with rounds of ammunition during a police search of his former home.

Police also found an air rifle, a crossbow, a machete, £5,413 worth of cannabis, £160 in cash, a dealers’ list and some snap bags.

Ward, who had previously pleaded guilty to two charges of wounding with intent and possession of an offensive weapon, and pleaded guilty to two counts of firearms possession, possession of ammunition and possession of cannabis with intent to supply, told the court that the firearms belonged to his late father, who had asked him to look after them for him.

He denied that he kept firearms for protection because he was dealing drugs.

Ward, who admitted that he did sell drugs to friends, but said it wasn’t on a large scale, said: “He was pretty strict my old man and whatever he said went. I didn’t feel that I could refuse his request.”

Ward was sentenced to a total of 11 years imprisonment, with six-and-a-half years concurrent for possession of a firearm, possession of ammunition, possession of a shotgun and possession of cannabis with intent to supply, and four-and-a-half years concurrent for two charges of section 18 wounding and possession of an offensive weapon, namely a cut-throat razor and violent disorder.

After sentencing Detective Inspector Andy Butterworth said: “This is a dangerous individual who was pursued relentlessly by the police.”

Manchester Evening News

Four locked up for slashing teen in Thornhill Lees

By
July 18, 2013
Jailed, possessing an offensive weapon, Racial Conviction, racially-aggravated common assault

A JUDGE has condemned a gang which got embroiled in a ‘spiral of violence’ in Dewsbury.

This week four men were jailed for an attack on two teenagers, which Leeds Crown Court heard was the result of heightened racial tensions in Thornhill Lees.

Two of the defendants, Josh Foster and Jordan Williams, were seeking revenge after being beaten up by a group of Asian males in October.

Melvin Watts, 19, told police the pair called for him on November 3 and told him, ‘Tonight’s the night’. Watts thought this meant they were going to find the men who had attacked them. He said he took a craft knife for self-defence.

The trio called for Dale Oakley, 21, and all four went to Thornhill Lees where they set upon two Asian teenagers in Lees Hall Road.

Williams hit one of the teenagers with a stick and Watts slashed one of them across the face.

Abdul Iqbal, mitigating, said the other men started attacking the two teenagers before Watts got involved.

Mr Iqbal said: “He took that as a tacit confirmation that these were the people they were looking for.”

But David Bradshaw, prosecuting, said neither of the victims were linked with the assault on Foster and Williams.

He added that Williams, 18, had told officers that Watts had invited friends on Facebook to go ‘muzzy hunting’.

Mr Iqbal said there had been heightened racial tensions in Thornhill Lees after Jack Carter had been killed by an Asian man in August. But Richard Canning, mitigating, said Foster did not see the attack as racist.

Sam Andrews and Robin Frieze for Williams and Oakley said both had shown remorse.

Watts, of Mountain Road, Thornhill, was given five years in a young offenders’ institute for wounding with intent and possessing an offensive weapon.

Foster, 18, of Grange Crescent, Tadcaster, was given 15 months in a young offenders’ institute for wounding and racially aggravated assault.

Oakley, of Thorn Avenue, Thornhill, was jailed for 18 months for the same offences.

Williams, of Partridge Crescent, Thornhill, was sent to a young offenders’ institute for 18 months for wounding, racially aggravated assault and possessing an offensive weapon.

Judge Colin Burn said: “I have heard about the death of Mr Carter and it is clear it is a part of a cycle or spiral of violence in your area. You four, with some enthusiasm, decided to get yourselves involved.

“What you did was completely unacceptable in any civilised society. Both complainants were traumatised by what happened to them and in the case of one, he has been left with a permanent facial scar.

“It’s an absolute miracle that his eye was not put out.”

Dewsbury Reporter