Luke Williams, 30, left his victim with ‘horrific’ injuries after the attack at The New Glynne Arms in Broughton, North Wales which ‘came from nowhere’, a court was told
A pubgoer carried out a “savage” attack on a complete strange using a bubble gum machine and a bar stool.
Luke Williams, 30, left his victim with “horrific” injuries from the barroom brawl.
His attack on Alec Regan “came from nowhere” and his own barrister called it “shocking”.
Williams threw a bar stool and a bubble gum machine at the reveller in the 20-minute incident at The New Glynne Arms in Broughton, North Wales in the early hours of August 6 this year, North Wales Live reports.
The former Airbus worker and regional rugby player admitted causing grievous bodily harm. A judge at Caernarfon Crown Court today (November 5) branded Williams a dangerous offender as he jailed him for six years. He will serve two thirds before he will be eligible to apply for parole.
The court heard Williams had lived at the pub as it was a “stone’s throw” from Airbus where he worked. On the night in question he had taken cocaine and ketamine and drunk alcohol.
He repeatedly punched and kicked Mr Regan including between his legs. He used his head in the attack and threw the stool and confectionery machine at Mr Regan.
Prosecutor Jade Tufail read out statements by Mr Regan who sustained a bleed on the brain, along with a fractured nose and jaw. Mr Regan said bar staff found two teeth on the floor and he said he couldn’t blow his nose because of his facial injuries.
He said he was afraid Williams might come to “finish him off”. In the statement, he said: “My life is hell at the moment.”
In another statement he said his dentist had told him he will have to remove nine of his damaged teeth. He added: “I have been destroyed by this incident.”
Oliver King, defending, told the court: “I have to acknowledge this was a shocking episode of violence.” He said the CCTV footage is “an uncomfortable watch but it is perhaps through good fortune that Mr Regan did not sustain more life threatening and more severe injuries”.
The lawyer added: “He required no invasive surgery.”
The court heard he had a well paid job, but a relationship broke down and he lost his driving licence for being over the limit. He moved into accommodation at the pub.
The court heard that, on the night of the attack, he had taken a “deadly cocktail of cocaine, ketamine and alcohol”. He has no recollection of the incident and is ashamed.
Since being on remand at HMP Berwyn in Wrexham Williams has been “polite, reliable and hard working”. He mentors vulnerable inmates and three prison officers have given positive references which is “highly unusual”.
The judge, Timothy Petts, told Williams he had committed a “savage and prolonged drunken attack on a stranger” in a pub where Williams was staying.
After causing the “horrific” injuries he caused “further degradation” by filming his victim, said the judge. He also removed some of his clothes and dragged him across the floor. Mr Regan spent six days in hospital.
The judge said: “Fortunately for him it was all captured in sickening detail on CCTV. He could easily have bled out on the floor of the pub had things taken a different course.”
He said the attack “came out of nowhere” and that he was “aggressive and unpredictable”. The judge concluded: “I do find you are a dangerous offender.”
A restraining order was also made with conditions banning Williams, of Broughton, from contacting Mr Regan or referring to him on social media for 20 years.