Man admits taking part in a violent attack outside a village pub near Leamington

Two men punched and kicked their victim after a ‘drug-related quarrel’ turned to violence
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A ‘drug-related quarrel’ turned to violence outside a village pub during which two men set upon their victim by punching and kicking him.

And at Warwick Crown Court one of the attackers, Thomas Sheridan, was given a six-month prison sentence suspended for 18 months and ordered to do 160 hours of unpaid work.

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Sheridan (23) of Bush Heath Lane, Harbury, had pleaded guilty to assaulting victim Ryan Cheney causing him actual bodily harm.

Thomas Sheridan.Thomas Sheridan.
Thomas Sheridan.

Prosecutor Queenie Djan said that in November 2019 Mr Cheney was outside the Buck and Bell pub in Long Itchington when he was called over by someone who was with Sheridan.

“There was a conversation about a debt, and then there was an assault by that individual and the defendant.”

Miss Djan pointed out that Sheridan had entered his plea on the basis that he punched Mr Cheney once to the face and swung at him a second time which did not connect.

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And he accepted that he then kicked Mr Cheney once to the body after he had fallen to the ground.

Mr Cheney was knocked unconscious in the attack, and when he came round he made his way back to the pub and a friend took him to hospital where he needed stitches to a cut below his eye.

Sheridan was arrested at his home the following month, but made no comment when he was interviewed, added Miss Djan.

Daniel Oscroft, defending, commented: “By far the greatest mitigation is the defendant’s very early guilty plea.”

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Mr Oscroft pointed out that Sullivan pleaded guilty knowing the second alleged attacker had ‘chosen to fight it’ by pleading not guilty.

And the case against the second alleged attacker was dropped after Mr Cheney failed to turn up to give evidence at his trial.

“That is something the defendant could have chanced his arm at, but he didn’t.

“He’s not a bad man, but someone who had fallen from the path. At the time he was in the grip of a cocaine addiction, or at least heavily using drugs.

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“Since then he has desisted from taking drugs and has stopped drinking.”

Sentencing Sheridan, Recorder Nicholas Syfret QC said: “The background to this offence is a drug-related quarrel between three people.

“Anybody who kicks another person with their shod foot must expect that to be recognised with some form of serious penalty.

“Bearing in mind that there was a kick, I believe this should be marked by a custodial sentence, but it is one I am able to suspend.”