Hero-turned-villain jailed for pub punch attack

A hero-turned-villain has been jailed for 18 months after he punched a man outside a pub, causing multiple fractures to his face.

Bradford Crown Court was told that Mark Harrison's victim suffered seven fractures to his face, nose and jaw after he was attacked while he was standing at the top of three steps outside the Sun Hotel in Shipley in December 2023.

The punch thrown by Harrison, who had talked a suicidal man down from height the previous year, caused him to fall and strike his head on the ground.

Recorder Andrew Haslam KC said the victim "bled heavily and was rendered unconscious" as a result.

CCTV footage of the incident showed members of the public assisting the complainant by putting him in the recovery position before an ambulance arrived.

Harrison, 41, left the scene but when he was arrested by police two days later he asked officers how the man was.

The court heard that Harrison, of Leeds Road, Shipley, had received a senior police officer's commendation following an incident in 2022 when he had talked a suicidal man away from the ledge of a tall building before the emergency services arrived.

Prosecutor Victoria Barker told the court how the complainant, who was unknown to Harrison, had been told to leave the pub by staff and while they were dealing with him the defendant intervened and confronted him.

Witnesses tried to calm things down, but Harrison continued to be hostile and staff told both of them to leave.

The complainant left first and while he was standing on the top step waiting for a taxi, drunken Harrison came out and punched him in the face.

In a victim personal statement provided in June last year the complainant described how he was suffering from "constant buzzing" in his ears and struggling to sleep.

He said his speech had been affected and not a day went by when he did not think about the assault and why it happened to him.

The complainant said he did not leave the house for several weeks because of his facial injuries.

Harrison, who had two previous convictions for assault dating back more than 20 years, pleaded guilty to a charge of unlawful wounding at an earlier court hearing.

Joel Wootten, mitigating for Harrison, said his client had been drinking heavily "as a coping mechanism" following the death of his father and other family trauma.

"Clearly this offence occurred largely because he was so drunk and he's clear that he never would have done what he did were he not intoxicated," said Mr Wootten.

He said his client "audibly gasped" when he was first shown the CCTV of the punch and its effects and he said Harrison was regretful.

Mr Wootten submitted that the offence had been "a major slip-up" in a long period of good, and at times exemplary, behaviour.

Recorder Haslam said it was an aggravating feature of the case that Harrison was under the influence of excessive alcohol at the time and he concluded that the serious nature of injuries meant the 18-month prison sentence had to be served immediately.

Listen to highlights from West Yorkshire on BBC Sounds, catch up with the latest episode of Look North.