27
Jun
Notorious Harrogate thug jailed after knocking man out in bar
A “dangerous” thug who “enjoys violence” has been jailed yet again after knocking a man unconscious in a Harrogate nightclub.
Adam Snowdon, 32, punched the victim square in the face, knocking him to the ground, out cold and motionless, York Crown Court heard.
He then “danced a little jig” as the victim was lying unconscious on the floor.
The drunken attack in Mojo bar in the early hours of May 18 was Snowdon’s 115th criminal offence on a record riddled with serious violence.
Today, judge Sean Morris, the Recorder of York, told the Harrogate man he was a “dangerous individual” and there was a real risk that one day “you will kill somebody” as he jailed him for 17 months.
Prosecutor Brooke Morrison said bar staff had noted Snowdon’s presence even before the attack due to his track record for wanton thuggery and his “argumentative” behaviour inside the club.
Ms Morrison:
He had been argumentative with staff and at one point was sat on the bar.
He was asked several times to get down and refused to do so.
By 2.45am, a bar manager noted that Snowdon was looking increasingly “rattled and tense”.
Snowdon, who was in the middle of a busy bar, had a “brief conversation” with the named victim, whom he didn’t know. As the victim turned to leave, Snowdon appeared to say something to him and then punched him once to the head, “causing him to fall to the floor unconscious”.
CCTV footage showed the victim laid flat out surrounded by revellers as Snowdon walked out of the bar and said to a doorman: “Somebody inside needs help.”
He was later arrested and charged with assault occasioning actual bodily harm. He admitted the offence and appeared for sentence today.
Ms Morrison said the victim lost consciousness only briefly and suffered only bruising and a cut lip.
She said that Snowdon had been at the bar in Parliament Street with two friends, one of whom also appeared to have exchanged words with the victim before the attack and “appears to be playing some kind of antagonistic role”.
Snowdon later told a probation officer he had gone back inside the bar after hearing that one of his friends had been assaulted by “someone in a group”. He singled out the victim, who was entirely innocent, as he thought he was part of that group.
114 previous offences
Ms Morrison said that Snowdon, of Castle Road, Killinghall, had 41 previous convictions for 114 offences and many for serious violence.
His record included 13 convictions for battery, five for affray, 13 for assaulting police officers and other emergency workers and one for violent disorder. It also included two convictions for wounding and causing grievous bodily harm and three for ABH.
In September 2022, Snowdon, formerly of Glasshouses, was jailed for 19 months for affray and assault after biting a police officer at Harrogate Police Station following a drunken incident in Parliament Street.
The sentencing judge at the time was Mr Morris, who said he would reserve all future cases involving Snowdon to himself and would “come down on you like a tonne of bricks if you cause trouble (again) in North Yorkshire’s towns and cities”.
Defence barrister Mike Greenhalgh said that Snowdon was “thoroughly ashamed of his behaviour”.
“He described it as sickening (after seeing the video footage),” added Mr Greenhalgh.
He said that Snowdon was trying to get help for his mental health problems and drink-related offending.
He said there was “no rational explanation” for the attack after Snowdon had been randomly talking to people inside the bar.
But judge Mr Morris said:
There is a rational explanation for it: he enjoys violence.
He told Snowdon: “You rendered a man unconscious: you walloped him.”
He said that if the victim had been more seriously injured, Snowdon could have been “up for one-punch manslaughter”. The judge added:
One day I think you are going to be. You are dangerous.
Mr Morris added:
You have told the Probation Service that you instantly regretted your actions. Well, dancing a little jig, which I can see on the video, does not look like instantly regretting it to me.
You thoroughly enjoyed it and no doubt you enjoy all the violence you inflict. You are undoubtedly a dangerous individual who enjoys violence and until you learn your lesson you are going to remain dangerous and potentially one day you will kill somebody with your fists or whatever.
He said there was a “significant degree of premeditation” to the attack as Snowdon had singled out the victim who was “completely innocent of anything”.
Snowdon will serve half of the 17-month jail sentence behind bars before being released on prison licence.
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