Man jailed for kicking and punching unconscious man in New Year assault
A man involved in kicking and punching an unconscious man in a New Year assault as he lay on the ground outside a pub has been jailed.
Andrew Pearce, 31, had threatened to kill the victim before following him after a dispute involving the defendant's girlfriend.
He had been part of a "posse" of three men who chased and attacked Scott Archer near the Duke of York pub in Trench in December 2014.
Mr Archer suffered a broken jaw, damaged teeth and lip, broken fingers, a broken wrist, an injured knee and cuts to his head.
Pearce was jailed for 18 months – a sentence to run consecutive to a 45 month sentence imposed in April last year for being involved in the supply of drugs – when he appeared at Shrewsbury Crown Court.
Pearce, of School Street in St Georges, Telford, had admitted inflicting grievous bodily harm on Mr Archer at an earlier hearing.
Passing sentence, Judge Peter Barrie said clearly alcohol had played a part in what was a terrible outburst of violence and whatever the defendant had considered Mr Archer had done did not justify what happened.
He told Pearce that this was a joint attack on the unconscious victim and that the defendant had been involved in a similar attack 10 years ago.
Miss Samantha Powis, prosecuting, said that after the initial blows Mr Archer had been unconscious on the ground and there was kicking and stamping by the three men.
"They all moved away, but the defendant came back and kicked the victim in the back and there were four or five kicks to the back of his head," she said.
Miss Powis said that the victim was off work for four months, he was in plaster for six weeks and his jaw remains numb and it will cost £10,000 for the damage to his teeth to be rectified.
Mr Dean Easthope, for Pearce, said that the victim had been involved in a confrontation with his client's girlfriend who was pushed to the floor.
He said that Pearce was angry and lost his temper and the 'red mist' came down. He was sorry for his actions and the injuries caused and wanted to apologise.
Mr Easthope said the two other men had not got involved at his client's behest and neither had been identified and brought to court.
