Booze thugs jailed
Date published: 21 February 2012
Facebook boast of yobs who threw man in canal
THREE drunken yobs who dislocated a man’s jaw and then bragged about it on Facebook, have been jailed.
Craig Martin (24) and Jackson Wright (20) both of Rochdale Road, and Daniel Cameron (22) of Laurel Avenue, all Oldham, were found guilty of attacking 24-year-old Ross McMillan on October 17, 2010.
A trial at Bradford Crown Court heard that they had gone to The Golden Lion pub in Todmorden, for a boozy session. Bouncer Peter Newbury, who gave evidence at the men’s trial, said they had spotted the group earlier in the night and thought they “looked like trouble.”
Later, inside the pub, the three men began arguing with a friend of Ross McMillan. All parties were ejected and Mr McMillan made, what Judge Jonathan Durham Hall called an “almost fatal error” of going outside to check his friend was OK.
The group, which may have been as large as six, including Martin and Wright, punched him to the floor and began kicking him.
The court heard that their victim screamed out: “What have I done?” Cameron then got involved and held down McMillan so the brutal attack could continue. He then picked the victim up and taunted him before throwing him in the Rochdale Canal.
A female friend of McMillan’s tried to stop Cameron but he punched her in the face leaving her with a broken nose.
Judge Durham Hall commented on the men’s Facebook boast which mentioned the “canal plunge.” He said: “Daniel Cameron, you in particular commented on it; “broken jaw, fractured eye socket, no teeth, pneumonia and bird with a broken nose. Ha.”
Cameron and Martin were jailed for eight years while Wright will spend six years in a young offenders institute.
