Jealous boyfriend attacked man
Date published: 23 June 2011
Victim denied ‘leering’ at girlfriend on escalator
A MAN was head-butted in a crowded shopping centre because a jealous boyfriend thought he was leering at his girlfriend.
Anthony Hodson had been in the Spindles Shopping Centre with his own partner, when he was assaulted by 22-year old Anthony Jones.
Manchester’s Minshull Street Crown Court was told that the two men had been using escalators taking them to lower floors when the incident happened on October 3 last year.
Maria Brannan, prosecuting, said as the two couples passed, Mr Hodson glanced briefly at Jones’s girlfriend.
Seconds later Jones, of Copster Place, Oldham, approached him and without warning head-butted him.
The assault caused instant bleeding, and though Mr Hodson was clearly in shock, Jones walked off, appearing to gesture.
When challenged as to why he had attacked Mr Hodson, he called him a “pervert”.
The court was told that Mr Hodson was at a loss to understand the reason why he was head-butted.
The two-centimetre gash to his head required hospital treatment.
Jones was detained by security staff in the shopping centre, and as he was led away said, “I’m sorry”, to his victim.
He later said in interview: “He was looking at her, which I didn’t mind, but it was blatant. He was staring at her boobs, not her face.”
Mr Hodson denied having looked at anyone in a leering manner, and said he had been shocked by what had happened.
Michael Monaghan defending, said it had been a “stupid act which was wholly out of character” on the part of his client.
He said: “He has shown sincere remorse, and says he feels disgusted at himself for what he did.”
Sentencing him, judge Jonathan Foster QC, told Jones, who pleaded guilty to a charge of assault occasioning actual bodily harm: “Violence in a public place is always a serious matter.”
He told him, however, that he accepted it had been an isolated incident, and ordered him to carry out 120 hours unpaid work in the community.
He was also ordered to pay £400 compensation to his victim and £200 costs.
