Ludlow attacker gets 18 months for fracas

A 20-year-old man has been sentenced to 18 months in a young offenders institution after a violent row outside a Ludlow pub.

Luke Scott Pugh punched and kicked Luke Hicks, 22, during the fracas outside The Bull, Shrewsbury Crown Court heard yesterday.

Pugh, of Henley Road, Ludlow, also punched a 21-year-old woman who tried to act as peacemaker.

He had been convicted at an earlier hearing of assaulting Mr Hicks, causing him actual bodily harm, and assaulting the woman.

The court heard Pugh was also in breach of a sentence imposed by Telford magistrates of four months detention, suspended for 18 months, for two common assaults and a public order offence.

Mr Kevin Jones, prosecuting, said Mr Hicks had been left with a cut and swollen lip and injuries to his teeth which would require £1,000 worth of dental work. The woman had a two-inch long cut to her nose.

Mr Brendan Reedy, defending, said Pugh had a "long and not a healthy relationship with alcohol".

Judge Robert Onions told Pugh: "What you need when you come out of custody is really a clean slate or fresh start, otherwise the future for you is bleak. You are wasting your youth."