Attacker who beat up three in Market Drayton flat jailed

A 30-year-old man who brutally attacked three men in a flat in Shropshire, leaving one with serious injuries, has been jailed for seven years.

Lance Butters attacked Sonny Birch, Gavin Finch and Jake Birch in a flat in Market Drayton armed with a weight bar during a long-running dispute.

Judge Peter Barrie, sitting at Shrewsbury Crown Court, said Butters had burst into the flat armed with the bar and carried out a sustained attack.

The incident happened at Rodenhurst Court on November 26, 2010.

Butters, of Newhampton Road, Wolverhampton, was sentenced at Shrewsbury Crown Court yesterday after being found guilty of assault with intent to cause grievous bodily harm to Sonny Birch and Mr Finch – who has since died in an unrelated incident – at a hearing on May 23.

He had previously admitted causing grievous bodily harm with intent to Jake Birch during the attack.

Judge Barrie sentenced Butters to six years in jail for causing grievous bodily harm to Jake Birch and seven years for the two further counts of assault with intent to cause grievous bodily harm to the two other men.

The sentences will run concurrently, and Judge Barrie also imposed a two-year extended licence.

He said Butters burst into the flat armed with a weight bar and assaulted Jake Birch, causing him 'serious, not life threatening injuries' in a 'sustained attack'.