A pool player and his partner have received suspended sentences for a brutal pub attack on his brother-in-law after reacting badly to losing a heated tournament
A heated pub pool tournament descended into a family feud after a man brutally battered his own brother-in-law for winning the game. Adam Allen, 41, and his partner Pamela Makinson, 43, launched a foul-mouthed tirade against Sean Turner, who had married Allen’s sister, Samantha, just weeks before the violent clash.
Swansea Crown Court heard that what started as “light-hearted banter” between opposing teams at the Gilfach pub in Mydroilyn, west Wales, quickly turned sour. Allen and Makinson began relentlessly “heckling” their new family member as the frames progressed.
Prosecutor Caitlin Brazel told the court the abuse turned personal and nasty. She said: “The victim was called a f**** ginger c*** and a vegan.”
Despite the verbal onslaught, Mr Turner, a devoted vegan, kept his cool and led his team to victory.
But as his side engaged in “some small celebrations” before heading home, the sore losers saw red. The court heard that Mr Turner was followed out of the pub into the darkness.
Ms Brazel said: “There was a big scuffle and then an unprovoked group attack. The victim was punched and kicked and his coat was pulled over his head.”
The savage beating continued on the ground, where Mr Turner was repeatedly struck while blinded by his own jacket. The assault only stopped when a teammate managed to pull the victim into a car and speed away from the scene.
Mr Turner was forced to attend hospital the following day, requiring treatment for lacerations and extensive bruising across his head and body. While Allen and Makinson initially tried to claim to police that they were the ones being assaulted, they eventually pleaded guilty to affray.
Sentencing the pair at Swansea Crown Court, Judge Paul Thomas KC pulled no punches. He told the duo: “A family quarrel got massively and ridiculously out of hand” and led to “quite disgraceful drunken behaviour.”
He blasted the couple, adding: “You are both middle aged – you are not drunken teenagers anymore and you ought to know better.”
The judge noted that the violence had caused a rift that “possibly beyond redemption” within the family. Allen and Makinson, both of Mydroilyn, were handed 16-month suspended sentences.
Allen must also complete 150 hours of unpaid work, while Makinson was fined £300. Both are now banned from contacting their victim for four years under a restraining order.
The victim’s wife, and Allen’s sister, Samantha, took to social media to reveal the emotional toll of the betrayal.
She wrote: “‘Family First’ is what I was taught since I was a little girl. But that means something different where I came from, it’s just a nice way of saying we must tolerate abuse.
“It means we must never speak out against family no matter how badly they treat us, it means love is conditional, that we must protect the family image and we must never put our own needs before the family.
“Now I’ve broken free from the brainwashing and abuse, I have finally found true happiness and in turn the person I was always meant to be.”
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