Former pub landlord John Doyle jailed for attacking two menA PUB licensee who launched a brutal premeditated attack on two men in the smoking area of a town centre bar has been jailed for 19 months.
John Doyle, 50, who hit the headlines when he berated Ed Miliband over business rates, left one of his victims with a broken jaw in the booze fuelled attack.
And Doyle, who also made the news for showing Premier League football in his pub with a foreign decoder, also punched another man to the ground.
After seeing CCTV footage of the incident in the smoking area of Revolution, in Bridge Street, Judge Tim Mousley QC said he had to jail him.
But he suspended the sentence on Doyle's 28-year-old son Michael telling him: "I have doubts whether you would have done this were in not for your father's leadership".
Michael Hall, prosecuting, told Swindon Crown Court that the assaults took place at about 1.30am on Monday, March 25, last year.
He said Shaun Collins was standing outside with his hands in his pockets talking to Nathan Blake when Doyle senior came out and landed a hefty punch to his face.
Mr Collins went to the ground while John stood over him and Michael kept people away before the victim's friend Isaiah Allison approached.
John Doyle then struck him to the face and his son Michael joined in, landing a number of blows to Mr Allison while his dad held him.
In the ensuing melee Blake also joined in, it is alleged, and stamped on him when he fell to the floor before the three left.
But they were arrested in another nearby bar and on the way to the police station Doyle senior said the victims had been 'abusing women in town for weeks'.
Mr Hall said there was no evidence to suggest that was correct and as a result of the violence Mr Allison suffered a broken jaw.
John, of Penhill Drive, and son Michael, of Dydale Road, Taw Hill, both pleaded guilty to causing grievous bodily harm while John Doyle also admitted common assault.
Mike Pulsford, defending, said the father, who is also a licensed hackney carriage driver, was under a great deal of stress at the time of the incident.He said he had been the landlord of the Queensfield pub in Stratton which he ran with his wife until financial problems led to its closure.
Following that he said the battle over the TV rights had taken more than three years to be resolved but he was now in the clear after the prosecution was ruled unlawful.
He said he still held
a personal license to serve drink as well as one to drive a taxi and they could be at risk as a result of the convictions. On the night of the incident he said there had been an earlier verbal exchange but it was so long before it could not be deemed provocation.
He said his son had suffered skin problems from an incident when he was a young child and only joined in he violence when he thought his father was being attacked.
Jailing John Doyle, Judge Tim Mousley QC said: "I have come to the conclusion that the grievous bodily harm was too serious to enable me to suspend the sentence. You left a man with serious injuries."
He imposed a one year jail term suspended for two years on his son and told him to observe a 7pm, to 6am curfew for six months.
He said: "I have doubts whether you would have done this were in not for your father's leadership and he bears a heavy burden in my judgement for leading you the way he did."
A warrant has been issued for the arrest of Blake, 46, who gave the court the same address as Michael, who is thought to have fled to Thailand. He pleaded not guilty.
John Doyle got a private audience with then Prime Minister Gordon Brown in the 2010 election campaign after barracking Ed Miliband about business rates during a Labour campaigning trip to Swindon.
source:
http://www.swindonadvertiser.co.uk/news ... g_two_men/
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