By Phil Coleman

Last updated at 09:09, Friday, 15 March 2013

A car wash worker who knocked out another man in a pizza takeaway shop in Carlisle city centre has been given a suspended jail sentence.

After watching the CCTV images of the violence inflicted on his victim by 22-year-old Shane Milburn, Judge Paul Batty QC told him: “The good people of Carlisle are heartily sick and tired of this type of drunken and boorish behaviour in Botchergate.”

Earlier in the case, the defendant, of Moorbanks Road, Workington, pleaded guilty to a single charge of assault causing actual bodily harm.

Prosecutor Alan Lovett told the court how Milburn encountered his victim in the Pizza Italia takeaway on Botchergate during a night out.

For reasons that have never been explained, Milburn pestered his victim Lee Meszaros, insisting again and again that he should apologise to staff in the shop.

He then began grappling with Mr Meszaros, eventually overpowering him and pulling him to the ground, where he repeatedly punched him, knocking him out.

The video of the incident shows Milburn leaving his unconscious victim sprawled on the floor as staff in the shop try to help him.

Mark Shepherd, defending Milburn, who has 23 offences on his criminal record, including other assaults, agreed with the judge’s comment that the incident was “a sad reflection” on certain aspects of the night life in Carlisle.

He said: “It’s also a sad reflection on how Mr Milburn chose to behave on that night.”

Mr Shepherd said it was now clear that his client had begun to address his conduct, and he had changed his life.

He had moved 35 miles away from Carlisle and is now living in west Cumbria with a partner who has a child.

“He spends his evenings indoors with her,” he said, adding that the defendant now realised he had not been the person he once aspired to be.

Passing sentence, Judge Batty said that both men had taken drink.

He imposed a 12-month jail term, suspending it for two years; a six-month overnight curfew, to be monitored with a tag; and 12 months Probation Service supervision, with a requirement to complete an alcohol awareness course.

“You won’t be going out in Botchergate for quite some time,” said the judge, warning that he would jail Milburn if fails to abide by his sentence.

First published at 09:03, Friday, 15 March 2013
Published by http://www.newsandstar.co.uk