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29
Nov 2022
A Harrogate man has been jailed for three years for a “savage”, unprovoked attack on a neighbour who was left with a fractured eye socket, broken nose and cracked ribs.
Richard Banks, 45, sidled up to the victim in the street and asked him for a cigarette, York Crown Court heard.
The victim, a professional man who was out walking his dog, invited him into his flat in St Mary’s Avenue, Harrogate, but soon felt “uncomfortable” because Banks, whom he barely knew, was “overfamiliar” with him, said prosecutor Rachel Landin.
He asked Banks to leave which he did but returned later that day. When the victim opened the door, Banks, a long-time drug user, “barged in and began shouting”, said Ms Landin, adding:
Banks took hold of a knife in the kitchen and threatened to kill the named victim, who ran to the front of the house and shouted for help from a window. Ms Landin said:
York Crown Court
He was taken to Harrogate District Hospital where he woke up “not knowing what was going on and in a lot of pain”.
He was transferred to York Hospital for surgery and specialist treatment to a fractured eye socket and broken ribs and nose, as well as cuts, bruises and scratches all over his body.
Banks, who bizarrely appeared “more focused” on the victim’s dog, was arrested in the street and charged with wounding.
He denied the offence, falsely claiming self-defence, but was found guilty following a trial at the Crown Court in July.
The side of his face was “numb for the best part of a year, causing problems eating”.
He said although Banks had mental-health issues, a three-year jail term was “the least” sentence he could impose for “this savage beating of this man in his own home and outside in the street”.
Banks will serve half of that sentence behind bars before being released on prison licence.
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