Man 'bashed victim's head in' after launching jealous pub assault

A “blameless” man has been left with three metal plates in his face after he was subjected to a brutal attack soon after he had been punched in a Bradford city centre pub.

The victim had been drinking with a woman in the Drum Winder premises a few days before Christmas when he was punched by the woman’s on-off partner Gavin Thorpe. Bradford Crown Court heard on Wednesday the woman took the man back to her flat to give him medical attention, but Thorpe then turned up and kicked in the locked door before launching another attack on him.

Prosecutor Alisha Kaye said the 39-year-old went straight towards the complainant and punched him three or four times. She said the man felt a sharp throbbing pain in his jaw and the woman alerted a security guard at the block of flats.

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The guard could see blood coming from the man’s right eye socket and when the complainant underwent CT scans at hospital he was found to have suffered multiple injuries to the right side of his face including a fractured cheekbone, fractured eye socket and broken jaw.

Miss Kaye said he underwent an operation a few days later and had three metal plates inserted.

In his victim impact statement read to the court the complainant said he had been unable to work for two weeks after the attack and now had permanent scarring from the surgery. Thorpe, of Cross Road, Bradford, had pleaded guilty to charges of assault and wounding in relation to his two attacks on the victim and today a judge jailed him for 24 months.

His barrister Safter Salam said Thorpe had accepted that the relationship was over and he was now ready to face the future as a single man.

Judge Colin Burn was told that Thorpe had been remanded in custody for 200 days since his arrest, but he rejected submissions that the prison sentence could be suspended. The judge told Thorpe: ”You bashed his head in.”

Judge Burn said it had been a prolonged and persistent course of violent conduct against the complainant who was entirely blameless. The judge that the offending was “too violent, too persistent and too brutal” for the jail term to be suspended.

Thorpe was also made the subject of a 10-year restraining order which bans him from contacting the complainant.