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24
Feb 2023
Two middle-aged Harrogate men who took it in turns to beat a man with an iron bar have been spared jail.
Stuart Hall, 50, and David Winter, 49, set about the victim outside his house following a neighbours’ dispute that turned into terrifyingly ugly violence.
Prosecutor Richard Holland said it was the named victim who started the trouble when he came out of his home brandishing an iron bar and using the weapon to strike both Winter and Hall, who lived next door.
Mr Holland said that Hall and the victim “did not get on”.
The victim was aggrieved that Hall, who ran a repair garage, parked his cars outside his home and Hall complained about his neighbour feeding birds which had soiled his roof.
Matters came to a head on July 31 last year when Hall and Winter, who are close friends, returned from the pub.
The victim came running out of his house with an iron bar and struck them with it, but the two men wrestled the weapon from him and “responded with overwhelming force”, said Mr Holland.
They struck the victim with the metal bar and Winter punched him repeatedly after he was knocked to the ground.
Winter continued to punch the victim as he told him:
He then kicked the victim repeatedly while he was lying helpless on the ground.
Witnesses said both men were hitting the victim with the iron bar at different points during the attack. Mr Holland said:
Neighbours called police who arrived to find the victim “covered in blood”.
He suffered bruising including to his cheekbone and near his eye and a 4cm cut to the back of his head which had to be glued shut. He also suffered a broken finger.
He said although the victim had started the trouble, they had “attacked a man on the ground [with an] evil weapon”, adding:
He criticised Winter for his “obscene remarks” to the victim and threats to kill, although acknowledged they were “completely out of character”.
He also noted that the two defendants had been injured themselves and one had been struck on the forehead with the iron bar.
Mr Hickey said that despite the seriousness of the violence, he could suspend the inevitable jail sentences in both their cases because they would lose their jobs and their homes if they were imprisoned and the impact on their families would be “devastating”.
Winter was given an 18-month suspended prison sentence and Hall received a nine-month suspended jail term. They were each ordered to carry out 100 hours’ unpaid work and pay £600 prosecution costs.
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