Pub assault anger

ANGER . . . White Lion landlord Carl Benton was assaulted in his own pub

A FATHER-OF-THREE has been banned from pubs across three Saddleworth villages for two years after he admitted assaulting a landlord.

As well as a two-year exclusion order from pubs in Delph and Dobcross, and one in Diggle, Andrew Roebuck (29), of Roche Road, Delph, must do 150 hours of unpaid work and pay almost £300 in compensation and court costs, Oldham magistrates ruled.

The landlord he drunkenly attacked at the White Lion in Delph blasted the sentence. Carl Benton said: “The ban should have extended to pubs in the whole of Saddleworth and a wider area. Why should a man be allowed into a respectable establishment and allowed to do this?”

Mr Benton (39), added: “I don’t think the punishment fits the crime. I had done absolutely nothing wrong. Landlords must be protected in their own premises without fear of being attacked by customers.

“I received heavy bruising to my left eye and my right eye is still bloodshot. I took heavy bruising to my back, ribs, kidneys and liver. I was knocked unconscious when he first hit me.”

Mr Benton’s wife Farah (29), who runs the Hanging Gate in Diggle, said: “The sentence is outrageous. How can that not warrant a prison sentence?”

Roebuck was drinking with his wife and friends at the White Lion on March 1. They were disturbing other customers so Mr Benton asked them to leave at 1am. As the group left, Roebuck’s wife fell and hit her head.. When Roebuck saw blood on his wife’s head he ran inside to ask Mr Benton to call an ambulance. Roebuck believed Mr Benton refused so ran behind the bar and punched Mr Benton in the face, then hit him again while he was on th ground..

Stephen Parker, defending, said Roebuck and his wife were enjoying a rare night away from their young children and had drunk too much.

He said: “Mr Roebuck is embarrassed, ashamed and remorseful for his actions. He admitted what he had done and pleaded guilty to assault at the earliest opportunity.”