A Harrogate man has been jailed for over three years after smashing a beer glass into a man’s face, wounding a pub landlord and pestering his former partner.

Christopher Adamson’s offending began in April 2022 when he struck the named landlord over the head with a glass jar at The Claro Beagle pub in Harrogate.

On January 12 this year, while out on court bail, he glassed a man in the pool room of the Prince of Wales pub in Starbeck, causing head wounds which required hospital treatment, York Crown Court heard.

In between times, while still out on bail, he pestered his ex-partner, which was in breach of a restraining order.

Prosecutor Nick Peacock said that Adamson, 32, had been “pestering” people at The Claro Beagle in Coppice Gate and “bragging to them about how he had beaten (someone) up” before turning his ire on the landlord in the first attack on April 22, 2022.

Adamson was so drunk that bar staff eventually refused to serve him and he was told to leave, but he was still there an hour later, arguing with a bar steward and taking a drink from another customer.

At about 11pm, staff were cashing up as Adamson reached across the bar near the cash tray. The landlord, thinking he was trying to grab the tray, tried to block him, whereupon Adamson snapped his glasses.

Adamson then threw a beer bottle at him, before grabbing a glass jar and “slamming” it on the landlord’s hand. He then struck him twice more over the head, causing bleeding and two cuts.

He was pushed out of the bar by the landlord and customers and handed himself in to police over a week later. He was charged with wounding but initially denied the charge and was released on court bail until his trial which was due to be heard in January this year.

However, just two weeks before the trial date, he struck again, this time at the Prince of Wales pub where the named victim was with friends in the pool room.

Adamson made a derogatory comment to the victim before picking up a beer glass, “squaring up to him” and smashing the glass into his face.

The victim – who knew Adamson as they had both previously dated the same woman – suffered facial cuts and was bleeding down the side of his face. His wounds had to be closed in hospital.

Immediately after the attack, Adamson went to The Gardeners Arms in Bilton Lane with blood dripping from his arm. He bought another drink and wouldn’t tell staff why he was bleeding. Suspicious, they called police who arrived to arrest him.

He was charged with wounding and admitted the offence when the case first reached the crown court in February. By then, he was on court bail for both wounding offences, but then turned his attention to his ex-partner who was protected by a restraining order to keep Adamson away from her after he was convicted of stalking her in 2021.

On April 14, he ‘liked’ one of her Facebook posts, which was in breach of the order. He was booked again and appeared before magistrates the following day when he denied the offence. The case was set down for trial and Adamson was bailed again.

The following day, the woman was in Harrogate town centre when he confronted her as she came out of a shop and told her: 

She walked away along Station Road, but he approached her again, “staring at her and laughing”.

Adamson, a plumbing-and-heating engineer, was arrested for this second breach and appeared in court the following day when he denied the allegation. He was found guilty of both breach offences after trial in June.

He ultimately admitted the first wounding offence and damaging the landlord’s spectacles when he appeared for trial at the crown court the following day. 

Adamson, of Woodfield Avenue, Harrogate, appeared for sentence on all matters today after being remanded in custody.

In a statement read out in court, Adamson’s ex-partner said she had to quit her professional job due to Adamson’s behaviour which had left her isolated and with low self-esteem.

She said she dared not start a new relationship because she was “scared that if I get someone new, (Adamson) will mess everything up for me”.

She added:

Adamson had previous convictions for 19 offences including battery and threatening behaviour.

Defence barrister Lydia Pearce said alcohol was at the root of Adamson’s offending. He had used drink as a coping mechanism after losing both his parents.

Judge Sean Morris told Adamson it had to be an immediate jail sentence for his “catalogue of offending”.

Adamson was jailed for three years and two months and made subject to a two-year exclusion order banning him from The Claro Beagle, The Prince of Wales pub and the Gardeners Arms.