A former French Foreign Legion soldier attacked a man in the street in the middle of the afternoon, pushing him to the ground and repeatedly kicking him. Philip Harris then lifted the injured man's body and head off the pavement and slammed it back down.
His victim was left with bleeding on the brain, fractures to his jaw and nose, and broken teeth. Swansea Crown Court heard Harris went on to be involved in a standoff with police after he locked himself in his caravan, picked up a box of matches, and threatened to turn on the gas.
Brian Simpson, prosecuting, said on the afternoon of December 1 last year Simon Winterfield was driving home in a taxi along High Street in Cardigan town centre when the vehicle passed Harris as he stood outside the Saddler's Arm pub. When the defendant saw the car he spat at its window. The court heard the taxi stopped and Mr Winterfield got out to confront Harris and a "face-to-face" verbal altercation ensued.
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Harris then pushed his victim over and kicked him to the head and upper body a number of times. The court heard Harris then bent over his victim and lifted his body and head up off the pavement before slamming it back down. The prosecutor said that at this point a woman by the name of Rhian Jeremiah, who had been in the taxi with Mr Winterfield, intervened in the attack and pushed Harris away. The 60-year-old defendant responded by pushing the woman to the ground and, once she regained her feet, a brief struggle ensued. The court heard Harris then went into the pub leaving Mr Winterfield lying injured on the ground.
Police were called and the defendant was located inside the public house and arrested. As he was being escorted from the premises by officers he was seen to look at his victim, who was still lying on the floor, and say: "F****** good". Harris was interviewed and released on bail.
The court heard that in March this year Harris went to Miss Jeremiah's flat where he grabbed her by the arm and tried to pull her down a flight a stairs. The assault stopped when the victim's dog bit the defendant on the leg. The police were notified and when officers went to the caravan where Harris lived on the outskirts of Cardigan he refused to open to door – instead grabbing a meat cleaver and holding it to his neck before picking up a box of matches and threatening to turn on the gas. A police negotiator was drafted in and the standoff was resolved peacefully.
The prosecutor said Mr Winterfield suffered a bleed on the brain and fractures to his jaw and nose bones as a result of the street attack. Two teeth broken in the assault subsequently had to be removed. In an impact statement which was read to the court the victim said he had been left suffering with headaches and blurred vision and been left relying on his teenage daughter to help care for him. He said he was a self-employed handyman and had been unable to return to full-time work.
Philip Harris, of Gwbert Road, Gwbert, Cardigan, had previously pleaded guilty to inflicting grievous bodily harm (GBH) with intent and to two counts of assault by beating when he appeared in the dock for sentencing. He has five previous convictions for 12 offences but none for violence. His last conviction was from February this year for two offences of drug-driving.
Stuart John, for Harris, said it was accepted that a custodial sentence was inevitable given the seriousness of the assault and its location. He said Harris had been in a "relationship of sorts" with Miss Jeremiah and believed, whether rightly or wrongly, that she was also in a relationship of sorts with Mr Winterfield. The advocate said there was a "degree of acrimony" between the two men but that did not excuse what happened outside the pub. Mr John said Harris had joined the French Foreign Legion in 1996 and served with the unit for a considerable period of time before returning to Pembrokeshire around a decade ago and finding work. He added that his client wished, through him, to express his remorse in open court.
Judge Huw Rees said the assault had happened on a busy main street in Cardigan on a Thursday afternoon in view of passers-by including families and children and said whatever the background to the incident what had happened had been totally unacceptable. He said Harris had used violence in a "cowardly way" involving kicking a man on the floor and said the assault could have resulted in even more serious injuries or even in death.
With a one quarter discount for his guilty pleas Harris was sentenced to a total of 41 months in prison. The defendant will serve up to half that period in custody before being released on licence to serve the remainder in the community.
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